Books!

[azurelunatic]

*clears throat* Um, y'all know outofambit's writing, right? Little books like Spock's World, So You Want to be a Wizard, The Door into Shadow, Dark Mirror, The Wounded Sky, To Visit the Queen...

And it's that last one that's of particular interest now.

Book of Night With Moon and To Visit the Queen are a companion series to the Young Wizards books, about cat-wizards and their issues and Assignments. These are not overly-cute cats. These are catty cats who cat about on wizardly motivations with a very feline spin.

The story was plotted as a trilogy, and The Big Meow's outline was completed in 1998. But since the first two didn't sell particularly well, the third one was filed away neatly with a sign of regret.

In outofambit's words: The obvious solution to this problem is publication on demand (POD). I don't mind doing that. But you have to understand that it ain't cheap at the reader's end. Without dragging you all through the math -- which would take me a while, and I have enough trouble with math after the caffeine hits, let alone before it -- let's just say that a "trade paperback" perfect-bound copy of The Big Meow is going to cost you hardcover prices, not paperback. If I'm to make any money at all on the deal (by which I mean, at least recoup my publishing and labor expenses), you're going to be paying $20-25 for a copy of this book.

Would you?

If you would, drop me an email at this address: thebigmeow@youngwizards.com

I'd also ask those of you who read this blog and frequent LiveJournal or other communities where there might be interested parties to please forward the contents of this message to them in whatever ways seem most appropriate.

I'm there. I'm very there. I'm not rich enough to create the Books-I-Want-to-Read Press, but there's always room in the budget for the very short list of buy-on-sight authors. There's a reason I tracked down some of the more obscure books, and while in some cases they were justifiably obscure (the X-Com game tie-in is a readable yarn and a perfectly decent book, but without her usual sparkle), I'll usually want to re-read her books at least once every few years. (I believe I turned around and started reading Stealing the Elf-King's Roses again the second I finished it, just because it needed a second run through to settle completely.)

Comments

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

.......My thoughts are mixed. I liked the series, but "the big meow" just doesn't grab me as a title, and frankly, as long as Duane is writing something cool, I don't care as much _what_ it is. *g*

Even though, y'know, I really like cats.

CATS!!! *is distracted by shiny things*

...Um. But, yes. Books. She should write books. I would buy them. But, y'know, it's not to where I'd want to encourage her to do that instead of another thing. Unless she really wanted to. And then I would.

Also, is The Door into Starlight out yet?? What about noooooww????????

[azurelunatic]

She sells e-book of something! Main screen turn on!

(When I have money, I am buying it for me. And for my two biggest pirate friends.)

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

I bought me a copy. I shall read it before bed on the road trip.

Tempted to get some text-to-speech software installed so I can listen to it in the car, but would probably not work well.

[azurelunatic]

Text to speech and esoteric vocabulary don't often play well together.

[azurelunatic]

You have that same look as the cat rubbing at ankles at breakfast-time.

[azurelunatic]

It is a brief discussion!

This was where I was writing the thing about "It is spiffy to have a shared vocabulary about those moments when life makes you not sure if you are dreaming or just insane so you can tell other people about it when you come back" but then Firefox ate it.

And it is not polite to go all "Hi, we are Real Magic Users and we use your books!" when it is ambiguous whether said writer believes in Real Magic or not, never-mind that wizardry-as-she-writes-it is clear fantasy, because, um, duh.