Hokay! Belatedly realized I’ve been quieter than usual here, aside from occasional long philosophical screeds about SFF politics and global domination stuff. That’s because I’ve been phenomenally busy, and frankly when I’m busy it’s much easier to Tweet about stuff than take the time to do a blog post. But since it’s been so long since I’ve talked about Just Stuff here, I figured it was time to do an update.
First, I’ve finished the UMSP! My writing group, editor, and agent are now chewing on it, and I’m in Deep Thoughts mode, letting the heat of writing the first draft waft away so I can start the revision with a cool head.
Second, some upcoming appearances: Brooklyn Book Festival on September 22nd, New York Comic Con in October, Arisia in early 2014, Wiscon later the same year. And there’s one more thing I’ll be doing after that, but I can’t tell you about it. ::looks Terribly Mysterious::
Third, I’ve adopted a new cat! Yeah, that’s news, if you’ve been following my feline roommate saga here. This new fellow was adopted from a family I know which couldn’t keep him, and he and I seem to be getting along well thus far. His given name is Ozzy, but given that he’s huge and rambunctious and kind of larger-than-life, I have embellished his name as KING OZYMANDIAS (yes, it’s supposed to be in all caps).
Fourth, book recs (sorta)! Been reading two in particular that I’m enjoying thus far (not quite done yet with either):
- While I was down in Oz, I met a lovely author by the name of Amie Kaufman, who along with co-author Megan Spooner is about to release YA novel These Broken Stars. It’s not at all my usual fare, but I’m actually enjoying the heck out of it so far, so I’m pre-recommending it! (That’s when I recommend something before I finish it.)
- Also, I’ve been reading Annalee Newitz’ Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. Which, since I’m working on a post-apocalyptic fantasy right now, counts as research. But it’s fun research; the book is written in an easily accessible and engaging way. Another pre-rec!
Fifth, I’ve been following along with the Mark Does Stuff reading of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I don’t usually get to see someone reacting to my work in realtime, so this has been a treat — and Mark gets the most hilarious facial expressions. You can actually SEE HIM GO ALL CAPS. It’s delightful. And it turns out someone has commissioned him to make videos of his readings of the whole book! If something’s on his Confirmed list that you want to see videos of, you can commission him, too! Plus there’s two more books of the Inheritance Trilogy to go, and I’d love to see him capslock over them too. I think it would be a bit squinchy, ethically speaking, for me to commission those, but [blatant hint]maybe if someone here is interested…?[/blatant hint]
So that’s all the news that is news in Noraville. So, how ya been?
Congrats on finishing the UMSP! I shall take that as inspiration to work on my own novel tonight, since I’ve been dragging my feet lately…you know how it is.
KING OZYMANDIAS looks appropriately grandiose (and cute). Just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t build any secret Antarctic bases, or take an interest in tachyons.
“I am great OZYMANDIAS,” saith the cat, “the fuzzy King of Kings”
(Smith’s version needs some love, too)
Very much looking forward to another Jemisin novel.
Oh man. I remember Mark from John Scalzi’s Shadow War of the Night Dragon Book 1: The Dead City. I’ll definitely have to check out his read of 100K Kingdoms, now that I’ve finished it myself! :)
I just read the 1000 Thousand Kingdoms. WOW!!!! Congrats on making a dreamworld a reality. It has been a while since I wondered what the characters in a book were doing whenever I wasn’t reading. Thank you for doing whatever you had to do in your life to get this book out. Absolutely love it!!!
“Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
If he’s a typical cat, these will be the results of the things you have specifically forbidden him to do, like trolling the kitchen counter for food scraps, or scratching your furniture, and that he has waited for you to STOP LOOKING so that he could do them.
I had a cat once who taught me the immutable truth, that for cats human rules are to be obeyed ONLY WHEN HUMANS ARE PRESENT. Basically, she trained me.
Love that ginger colour.
I hope it’s okay if I drop in a random question here. Is there ever going to be an audiobook for the Kingdom of the Gods? My wife and I have loved listening to the first two, and were dismayed to see that the third isn’t available yet. I see that two years ago you said that sales weren’t strong enough to justify the third audiobook. Any chance you’ve reconsidered since then?
Hi John,
Unfortunately it’s not my call — the audiobook’s publisher is the one who passed on a third book. I don’t know of another way to make it happen, or believe me, I’d have seen it done; I’ve gotten so many requests for that third book that I feel terrible it isn’t available. Sorry! :(
Hi! Aside from the panel at NYC Comic Con, will you have any autograph times anywhere during the convention?