Wednesday, July 29. 2009Convention season
It's convention season. This weekend, I shall be at Constitution,the combined Unicon/filkcon/British Role-Playing Games con, at Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall), Cambridge. Details are here: https://www.constitution-con.org.uk/
And next weekend, I shall be in Montreal, Canada, for Anticipation, the World SF con. My first worldcon as a professional writer: I don't know whether to be more pleased or scared. I shall be writing about it on my regular LiveJournal blog: https://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/
Posted by Kari Sperring
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14:20
Sunday, July 12. 2009Mad Cat LadyMiddle cat, Iskander, has been having to stay inside for the last three weeks due to an injury. He managed to get a deep puncture wound in the middle toe of his right back paw, and as a result has been indoors, on antibiotics and in a buster collar through all the recent weather, hot and otherwise. He was heavy bandaged for the first two weeks of this, too, and it's safe to say that he is not a happy cat. Not one bit. There have been protests, both vocal and physical. There have been sulks. There have been guerilla raids on both doors and most of the windows. The other cats are also less than happy. Mooncat is used to being the centre of attention during most of the day, as she tends to be the most indoor-staying of the three. Now there is a loud and stompy Ish in her way and she is Not Best Pleased. She's taken to glowering at him and bringing in as much of the hedge as she can. (She has long fluff. Most summers, she embarks on a serious attempt to help the local grasses spread their seeds. Yes, I have eco-cat.) Horus is baffled, because his best friend is grumpy and seems to be wearing a lampshade. It's been a rather stressful three weeks. So today, in the interests of reducing just how fed-up and frustrated Ish is -- and with the rather more selfish motive of hoping it would reduce the amount of spraying he's been doing -- I put him on the cat lead and took him for a walk. I've been taking him out for a short stroll in the garden on most dry days, which he likes. But today we went beyond, down to the end of our (very short) cul-de-sac and then round the garage block, which is one of his particular hang-outs. Many fascinating scents have been located and investigated. Places have been marked very firmly. Bushes have been put in their place, grass has been chewed and Moon has been sneered at through a hedge. On coming in, he had his foot washed (bad) and was given his pill (very bad), his supper (good) and a treat (very good). Now he's dozing. Going for a walk with a cat is something I am known to do from time to time, though not usually with a cat on a lead in a lampshade. Ish will often trot round the nature reserve with me and Phil and others, and has to be discouraged firmly from following us on other occasions. Moon will follow for short distances, too. And Horus will walk with me, but not with anyone else. This means that some nights, on fetching them in, I come off the nature reserve with a train of cats. My neighbours find this amusing, and I can't really blame them. I'm the neighbourhood mad cat woman. There's no escaping it.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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18:59
Thursday, July 2. 2009Two thingsGardner Dozois has listed my short story 'Seaborne' in the Honourable Mention list in The Year's Best Science Fiction 2008. I am highly honoured: I write very few shorts and this is not something I expected. The story picks up on Thiercelin and Gracielis some time after Living with Ghosts, and appeared in the anthology Myth/Understandings, ed. Ian Whates (NewCon Press 2008) Also, earlier this week, I attended a two-day colloquium on Physics and SF at Imperial College, London. Concentrating on astrophysics and astornomy, it was a fascinating series of talks about aspects of space science from leading academics (Prof. Andrew Jaffe, Dr Roberto Trotta, Dr Mark Thompson, Dr Catriona Jackman and Dr Dave Clements). It was organised by my friend Dave Clements, astronomer and writer. I learnt a lot and I can see some very interesting ideas and possibilities... I also had the pleasure of spending time with some very interesting people, both writers and researchers -- Jaine Fenn, Liz Williams, Geoff Ryman, Steven Baxter, Molly Brown, Alistair Reynolds, Paul McAuley, Farah Mendlesohn... A wonderful idea and a wonderful experience and I'm very grateful to Dave for orgainsing it and for including me.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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11:14
Tuesday, June 2. 2009ArticleI have an article on the origins and nature of the Celtic-speaking peoples in the current issue of Clarkesworld. You can find it here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/maund_06_09/
Posted by Kari Sperring
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15:58
Wednesday, May 27. 2009Jaine Fenn InterviewI'm off down to London today, where, this evening, I will be interviewing my fellow author and long-time great friend Jaine Fenn for the BSFA. Details are here: https://www.bsfa.co.uk/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/24/27th-May-2009-BSFA-Monthly-Meeting-Jaine-Fenn-interview.aspx Jaine is the author of <i>Principles of Angels</i> (Gollancz 2008) and the forthcoming <i>Consorts of Heaven</i>. Check them out: fast, exciting, subversive SF with a thriller twist.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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11:26
Jaine Fenn InterviewI'm off down to London today, where, this evening, I will be interviewing my fellow author and long-time great friend Jaine Fenn for the BSFA. Details are here: https://www.bsfa.co.uk/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/24/27th-May-2009-BSFA-Monthly-Meeting-Jaine-Fenn-interview.aspx Jaine is the author of Principles of Angels (Gollancz 2008) and the forthcoming Consorts of Heaven. Check them out: fast, exciting, subversive SF with a thriller twist.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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11:26
Friday, May 8. 2009What I'm reading: Sherwood Smith, The Trouble with KingsA young woman awakens confused, in pain and in a place she does not recognise. The strangers she meets tell her is is a cousin, a bride-to-be, a flighty, selfish aristocrat. All she knows is that she does not feel safe and she wants to know who she is and what is going on. Learning her identity takes a little while, but even when she regains her memory, the truth about what is going on takes a lot longer to discover. Plots and counterplots, abductions, escapes, ambushes, treachery, politics abound as the heroine -- Flian -- strives to understand her life and her position in the world. I've completely lost my heart to this one. it has everything -- pace, excitement, a splendid heroine, romance and a wonderfully rich world.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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17:50
Wednesday, May 6. 2009New reviewI'm very pleased with this review at Strange Horizons https://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2009/05/living_with_gho.shtml Her comments on magic, are, I think, perfectly fair. I find magic hard to write. SO, if anyone is interested, there's a 'Questions about Meraafi and Magic' open thread on my live journal (https://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/154202.html)
Posted by Kari Sperring
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10:49
Thursday, April 23. 2009QUestions about Celtic and Gaelic culturesThere's now an open thread on my LiveJournal account for questions about the Celtic and Gaelic speaking peoples in the early middle ages. https://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/148775.html
Posted by Kari Sperring
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14:32
Interview
There is a new interview with me up on The Falcata Times. It's here:
https://falcatatimes.blogspot.com/ Many thanks to them for inviting me.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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10:40
Eastercon, finallyI've been putting off writing about Eastercon because I don't really know how to write about it. I've been to a lot of Eastercons, but this was my first one as a professional novelist, and it was.... strange, as if I was in a familiar place but it had been tilted through 40 degrees and repainted and the floors were prone to shift. I'm used to the cons where I work in Green Room and chat to friends and attend programme items and even appear on a couple of same. And I did that, I was at that event. It was good. The site worked very well (the Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford) from a logistical point-of-view, although it suffered from having only limited bed space. Phil and I were lucky enough to be in the main hotel. Friends in overflows reported that these were pleasant, but none of them were in particularly convenient locations and there were transport problems (mostly due to road closures, which are not the con-committee's fault). The bar staff were wonderful: no other word will do. Green Room stands or falls by the helpfulness of the hotel bar staff and these guys were total stars. They stayed charming, friendly, efficient and pleasant throughout, despite long shifts and their price is above rubies. I was on three programme items, one on history and its uses and abuses in sf and fantasy, one on getting published, and one interactive story-telling one themed around Baron Munchausen. The first one tended to get derailed into historiography, which wasn't quite the brief and was partly my fault -- I was not only moderator, but it was my idea. We were perhaps a little under-prepared (also my fault) but my co-participants were terrific and the audience seemed engaged. The publishing one was interesting though I was definitely superfluous: the rest of the panel were agents and editors and it turned into a 'how do I get you to buy me?' Q & A session, to which I had little to add. Baron Munchausen rocked. A group of us dressed up and told tall tales of the Baron's exploits, with additions and suggestions from the audience. I had huge fun and want to do this again. (Possibly in a cooler room. Steel-boned corsets and 18th c. paniered skirts are inimical to overheated rooms.) But... People I know well and people I know less well talked to me about Living With Ghosts. They liked it. I am bad at dealing with compliments. They asked me to sign copies. (To date, I have remembered to sign 'Sperring' and not my real surname, but all the same...) I was talked to by professionals with whom I haven't interacted much in the past. I was talked to by editors.... This is not normal, this is not me.I don't know how to do this and I'm not good at it. (The case in point being when the lovely Juliet McKenna introduced me to a marketing lady with the rider 'This is Kari. She's right at the wrong end of the shameless self-promotion skills.' [My fault, as I started by apologising for bothering said marketing lady.]) Either I need lessons or I need a stunt double, as it feels deeply odd trying to sell myself. I am going to Worldcon in Montreal this year and I need to do better there. Any suggestions?
Posted by Kari Sperring
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10:19
Wednesday, April 8. 2009Easter weekend
Tomorrow Phil and I are off to LX 2009, the British annual Easter science fiction convention, which this year is in Bradford. (Website is here: https://lx2009.com/) I'm on a couple of programme items (one on history and alternate history, one on writing) but otherwise will be doing my usual stint as a volunteer in the convention Green Room and otherwise catching up with people.
Maybe see some of you there?
Posted by Kari Sperring
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16:11
Thursday, April 2. 2009The Books that made me 2: Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Rumer GoddenIt's hard to pick just one book by Rumer Godden. She has been a touchstone of excellence in writing for me as long as I can remember and I have been reading her books for as long as I've been able to read. The sheer beauty of her prose -- its limpidity, its clarity, its economy -- continues to leave me breathless even though I have been reading it all my life. There are so many of her books that I love, that have meant a lot to me -- The Peacock Spring, a bittersweet companion to teenage fears; A Candle for St Jude, with all its meditations on creativity and compromise, love and loss and the unfairness of those with power; Coromandel Sea Change; The Greengage Summer; Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy; and the soft and deadly magic of Black Narcissus. I've been collecting her books for years and years, and finding one I don't have -- there are still a few -- is a special thrill. Miss Happiness and Miss Flower was the first of her books I ever read, ever owned. It was given to me as a Christmas present when I was 5 or 6: I can no longer remember reading it for the first time. I read it so often I can quote it. It was a Young Puffin -- a range of books for children aged 5 - 7 from Penguin Books in the 1960s and 1970s -- all short, all illustrated. The story is deceptively simple: Nona has been sent home to England from India where she was born to live with English relatives, who alarm and confuse her. She's shy, small, silent: her cousins are loud and energetic. Then she and her cousin Belinda are sent a package, two exquisite Japanese dolls -- the Miss Happiness and Miss Flower of the title. The story is how, though making a home for the dolls, who she sees as being as displaced as she is, Nona makes a home for herself also. The end of the book is devoted to instructions on how to make a Japanese-style dolls' house. Godden-style, the book is told simply and yet indirectly, through Nona's eyes and those of the dolls. It is all about feeling lost and alone and abandoned and having to begin again. I was shy, too: I felt close to Nona. I would have liked to have been friends with her, had that been possible: she was a reading sort of girl, like me. And I wanted to make the dolls' house, but somehow that never quite happened. Godden did not write that much for children and much of what she wrote was about dolls and their experiences. That is the key phrase that has sat with me from Miss Happiness, all these years. Dolls are not asked what they want, not asked before they are packed off and sent away to strange places. 'Children are not asked, either.' .
Posted by Kari Sperring
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20:48
Monday, March 23. 2009The very nice people at Penguin US have invited me to be a guest blogger all this week (23rd -27th March) over at their website. You can find it here: https://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/blogs/index.php Stop by and tell me what you think!
Posted by Kari Sperring
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11:57
Monday, March 16. 2009InterviewThere is an interview with me up on the Number One Novels blogsite: https://numberonenovels.blogspot.com/ Many thanks to Rebecca Chastain for inviting me.
Posted by Kari Sperring
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12:39
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