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I will be at Book Expo this coming Friday and Saturday. I've never been. I don't know if St. Martin's will have a seat for me at their booth. I don't know a lot! But I promise to report to you about it with my thoughts and observations. I have little promo thingys to pass out along with--wait for it--my bookmarks! If you see me there (I'll be wearing a black Veil of Lies t-shirt) stop me and say hello!
A bit of medieval poetry from the Viking Portable Poetry edition of Medieval and Renaissance Poets: Langland to Spenser, 1961. Author unknown.
Spring Song
Lenten is come with love to towne,
with blosmen and with brides roune,
That al this blisse bringeth.
Dayeseyes in this dales,
Notes swete of nightegales. 5
Uch fowl song singeth.
The threstekcok him threteth oo,
Away is huere winter wo,
When woderove springeth.
This fowles singeth ferly fele. 10
Ant wliteth on huere winne wele,
That al the wode ringeth.
The rose raileth hire rode,
The leves on the lighte wode
Waxen al with wille. 15
The mone mandeth hire bleo,
The lilye is lossom to seo,
The fenil and the fille.
Wowes this wilde drakes:
Males murgeth huere makes, 20
On strem that striketh stille.
Mody meneth, so doth mo:
Ichot ich am on of tho
For love that likes ille.
The mone mandeth hire light; 25
So doth the semly sonne bright,
When brides singeth breme.
Deawes donketh the downes;
Deores whispers dernes rounes,
Domes for te deme; 30
Wormes woweth under cloude;
Wimmen waxeth wounder proude,
So wel hit wol hem seme.
Yef me shal wonte wille of on,
This wunne wele I wol forgon, 35
Ant wight in wode be fleme.
2 briddes roune—birds’ voice, 4 this—these, 6 uch—each, 7: i.e., The song-thrush chides constantly, 8 huere—their, 9 woderove—woodruff, 10 ferly fele—wondrous many, 11: i.e., ? and warble on their wealth and joy, 13 raileth hire rode—puts on her hue, 15 wille—delight, 16 mendeth hire bleo—sends forth her radiance, 17 lossom to seo—lovely to see, 19 wowes—woo; this—these, 20 males—ms: miles; murgeth heure makes—gladden their mates, 21 on-ms:ase; striketh—flows, 22: i.e., Passionate (lovers) complain, so do others, 23 ichot—I know; ich—I; tho—those, 24 likes ille, i.e., are troubled, 27 breme—clearly, 28 donketh—moisten, 29: i.e., animals whisper dark secrets; whisperes, ms: with heure, 30: i.e., in order to settle their affairs, 31 woweth—woo; cloude—ground, 32 wounder—wondrous, 33: i.e., ? so well it (their pride) will suit them, 34: i.e., if I must do without my delight in one of them, 35 wunne wele—weakth of joy; wol—will, 36 wight—creature; fleme—fugitive.
Well, I'm screwed. I didn't think at my age I'd still have to be looking for work, but there it is. I've been downsized at my day job. What's that, you say? You're going to be published. What do you need with a day job? Gather around, my children, and I'll tell you a story.
Let's go way back when I was tirelessly writing and my agent was sending out my manuscript for a book prior to Veil of Lies. I really wanted my medieval mystery series at St. Martin's. I looked at other publishers and I felt that St. Martin's would really do the series justice. I was heartbroken when they turned down the first one. But when they picked up Veil, I knew I had come home.
As a new, untried author, I just wasn't going to get a big boffo advance. That's business. I was frankly thrilled to get anything! But it wasn't enough for me to quite quit my part time secretarial job.
Now, remember, you get half this advance at the time of the contract signing, minus your agent's cut. So now it's wittled down even more. You get the second half at some other time, like when the final edits are in. The book won't be on bookshelves for another six months. Then, when it does begin to sell, you won't see any additional funds until the advance is paid off. So. It's a tough proposition while you wait. In the meantime, I have to continue to write the next volumes in the series, prepare for promotional touring (which means shelling out my own money to go to places like Bouchercon), and still pay the bills. Hence, the day job.
Wish me luck. It's not the best of times to be looking for work.
Taking a break from my edits to watch the series The Tudors I rented from your friend and mine Netflix. I didn't know what to expect. It was on Showtime and they have produced some good quality shows. The production values looked pretty good. But then I started to watch it...
The expression one's 'jaw dropped" was designed for this. First of all, the casting. Okay, I know this is for a younger audience and even though Henry is supposed to be in his middle thirties at this point they still could have cast someone sexy enough. I'm not knocking Jonathan Rhys Meyers, but...I mean...he doesn't look anything like Henry VIII! Skinny as a rail and no RED HAIR! The guy that plays Buckingham was a much better fit, really.
Oh, but this was only the beginning. Then there are the costumes. The off-the-shoulder Tudor look. That takes me back to those off-kilter historical novel covers of the sixties (see a few posts back).
And THEN there was the weird compression of time, the changing of historical facts, the just making up stuff. Come on, people! This isn't that hard. I guess the best depiction so far has got to be Keith Michell in the Six Wives of Henry VIII from 1970. In the late seventies I remember seeing some of the costumes from that production on display at Hampton Court. I don't know if they are still there. But they were very interesting up close. They used nuts, bolts, and washers to give the appearance of gems sewn to the clothes, only noticable in person and not on TV.
Unfortunately, all the nuts and bolts show clearly on this Showtime production. Make it hip and damn the history. Pity.
And so it has finally arrived. The copy-edited manuscript which I am to pore over and make all pretty, doing my last minute changes or forever hold my peace. As with most things in my life concerning publishing, it arrived late (it was supposed to be here last Thursday). But not to worry. We've got it now and I'm very excited. (This is old hat to you guys out there who are well and truly published. But give me a break. It's my first time. *blushes*).
First there is the style sheet of St. Martin's house style of punctuation. I have smattered my ms with the British style of things when it made more sense but uh, uh, uh. None of that, my girl. And "grey" is changed to "gray." And quotes enclose the end punctuation which I didn't do, doing it the more reasonable British way. No problem. I can learn this.
There is also a list of words that I've used that they have either changed the spelling of (adding hyphens when it needed it and, again, going with the American spelling.) or just listed as something that crops up again and again. And then there is a page of character names that will reappear in the series. Except they got the name of the very important supporting character "Jack Tucker" wrong as "Jack Turner." Must have been a brain belch. Or maybe they were watching a Kathleen Turner movie? (Pish tosh. Everyone makes mistakes. And no. "Pish tosh" will not make an appearance in my ms.)
All in all, pretty interesting. Now, of course, you won't see me for a while as I immerse myself in it and try to make the changes I need to do and (mostly) agree with what the copy editor wants to change.
While I await the first glimpse of the cover art for Veil of Lies, my thoughts dally over covers of historical fiction I Have Known. I remember them well from the sixties and seventies. Those buxom women in semi-medieval garb, mouth agape, lips glistening, some sword-bearing swain leering over them. Wait. That's my wedding picture. No, no. I'm thinking of something else... At any rate, when one fixates onto an idea, I suppose it's hard to give it up. Take a look at these historical novel covers and see what you think. Some images are more desired than others, clearly. But you have to hand it to the genius of the graphic artists. There are so many ways to use the same imagery. It works in all of these guises. Again and again.
At least the cleavage is in the right century.
Some very interesting YouTube videos here on medieval life. The fourth is a bit heavy-handed and the music a bit loud and off-putting, but one through three and five are worth a look see.
One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eecgpVBycUg
Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I6XQ03SdN0&feature=related
Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvzQ26fq9ac&feature=related
Thought I'd mention some writerly stuff today. Gotta mention it sometimes. Just got my long-awaited edits from St. Martin's for my first soon-to-be-published novel. And it wasn't bad at all. Mostly I was surprised at how polite my editor was, asking if we couldn't change a word here or delete a line there. Gosh, I'm used to newspaper editors who just hack it away without looking back. To be asked was infinitely more civilized. I agreed with every one of them, too (I'm so easy). I was also asked to add more details here and there so as not to rush the prose (a tendency of mine. Gotta curb that.) But all in all, it's looking good. Can't wait to move this sucker along and see what happens next! Stay tuned!
