One coffee and a bad pun hits the header. What else is new?

I have Tom Stoppard on my mind this morning, though, and I haven’t even seen the production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that is in town. But I did watch Parade’s End this week, and Anna Karenena last night, and both are written by him.

The television mini-series is exceptionally good, the film is a misconceived mess. Go figure. Or, perhaps, think about how incredibly hard it is to make great art, how much ‘accident’ comes into it – especially when collaborative work is involved, as is the case with film and television.

Parade’s End, adapted from the Ford Madox Ford novels, has gotten some smart, superb reviews but most of them seem to be guarded, suggesting it is ‘no Downton Abbey‘ and that the characters are ‘harder to relate to’. Yes, thank God. What is so good about it, for me, is that it is so wittily and movingly (both!) grownup.

People are sometimes difficult to relate to, or to fully grasp. Not everyone in our life, or in a book or film, behaves in ways that we ‘get’ immediately. People can be complex, so can relationships. Not everyone in a work of art is someone who will be either our best friend forever or deeply and obviously evil. (I suppose someone can theoretically be both if we see ourselves as Loyal Henchperson #14!)

(You can probably see where I am going with this by now.)

Parade’s End (which is not flawless as the tone wobbles at times) features a really difficult man, and part of the series is about that. It is explored. He is so ‘virtuous’ he can be impossible to live with. Rectitude and principle can be a problem in personal lives. His wife  Sylvia (a stunning, can’t take your eyes off her, Rebecca Hall) is manipulative, maddening, sexually disloyal, and yet in complex ways (that word again!) a victim of her husband’s nature. It is a relationship that does not satisfy any desire for ‘clarity’, it isn’t easily summarized, and that’s what I found so wonderful about the acting and writing (and directing). If an audience (or the reader of a novel) want spelled-out simplicities, some works will frustrate. If they want a window into the way life works, in all its inconclusiveness morally, Parade’s End is wonderful. (It is also often very funny.)

Anna Karenina, the book, is even greater. It is greater than almost anything written. Tolstoy’s genius (which he seems not to have understood himself, later in life – read Isaiah Berlin’s The Hedgehog and the Fox on that) is to have an huge and intuitive grasp of so many different kinds of people and relationship. His compassion and his ‘eye’ give us a sense, reading him, of living the lives in the book. The new film undermines this with an almost shocking completeness. By choosing to emphasize artifice, setting the film mostly (not even entirely, abandoning consistency) in a theatre setting, the writer and director declare everything to be artifice. We are set back from the tragedy of Anna (and the eventual harmony of Levin and Kitty). The film becomes all about its own cleverness, and the subtext is: a modern audience cannot ‘relate’ to 19th century Russia. The story needs a ‘window’ of fakery to give us distance, just as we are distant from that time.

Almost every shot draws attention to its own cleverness. We watch the movie being made, not the story being told. And somehow – I would never have thought this possible – talented people conspire to actually make Anna herself unsympathetic.Tolstoy is natural and humane and encompassing. The film is smart people putting a gimmick on screen. It dances as fast as it can to distract. It juggles and plays the kazoo.

For me, the takeaway from the two works, aside from the remarkable fact of the same scriptwriter (a brilliant man) doing two works in the same year or two with such dramatically different results, is this: Parade’s End on television respects the viewer. Anna Karenina on screen doesn’t trust its material or its audience at all.

For some time I have been saying, as a riff on Tennessee Williams in Streetcar Named Desire, ‘I have always relied on the intelligence of strangers.’ I do. I try to trust my story and my readers, both. To not be afraid of subtlety, ambiguity, complexity, or the attempt, as best I can manage, to be thoughtful within a page-turner.

The two Stoppard works I just watched have crystallized my awareness of all of this. I am also, as it happens, re-reading War and Peace, and I just wrote an essay on re-reading in general. (I’ll let you know where it ends up.)

Needed to do something to get over the apprehension of how bad the Yankees are likely to be this year.

Last month’s charity auction of an ARC (I ended up offering 3, to raise $1000) for the Grim Oak fundraiser for paying medical bills for people in the sf/fantasy community was an unexpected one. I learned about Duane Wilkin’s medical issues and contacted Shawn Speakman to offer an ARC for his fundraiser. (Scroll down here or check the archives to get that story).

This current one is dear to my heart, with some history. This will be (unless I have lost count) the 4th time we’ve auctioned the worldwide first book off the press of my newest title. The details of the charity are below, I’ll just say that I have always seen literacy and reading as empowering, a way forward for young people, whether girls in Pakistan or underprivileged children in Canada. That’s why we’ve used Indigo’s “Love of Reading” charity as our beneficiary.

The auction of the first book of River of Stars went live last night on eBay and word is being spread this morning. The same person has ‘won’ all three of the previous auctions, he’s probably going for a collection! I will hope people challenge for it, and make this a good event for a good cause. I am really grateful to Penguin for setting this up, and to Indigo for partnering. The auction ends on March 10th.

The bidding link is here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FIRST-copy-of-Guy-Gavriel-Kay-s-RIVER-OF-STARS-/290871419813?pt=US_Fiction_Books&hash=item43b949a3a5

And here’s the formal announcement by Penguin. Go crazy.

A chance at auction to win the FIRST copy of Guy Gavriel Kay’s RIVER OF STARS

To celebrate the worldwide launch of international bestseller Guy Gavriel Kay’s much anticipated new novel River of Stars, Penguin Canada is auctioning the first book of the first print run, autographed by the author. Signed and verified by the printer and the publisher, this first copy includes a product identification slip and letter from the printing press identifying the book as the first copy printed of the first edition.

All proceeds from the auction will be donated to Indigo Books & Music, Inc.’s Love of Reading Fund (www.loveofreading.org). The fund directly supports high-needs elementary school literacy programs across Canada.

Inspired by the glittering and decadent Song Dynasty, River of Stars immerses us into an epic tale of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, nomadic invasions and of a woman fighting to find her place in the world. Guy Gavriel Kay, once again, astonishes with his skilled balance of fantasy, historical fiction, romance, and literary style and craft that results in an unforgettable journey destined to be one of his greatest achievements to date.

River of Stars will go on-sale in Canada and the United States on April 2, 2013.

After a Twitter exchange with Laurie Grassi, Books Editor of Chatelaine Magazine, it seemed time to confirm that the worldwide launch event for River of Stars will involve an onstage conversation with her and a reading (and signing) on April 4th, at 7 PM, at the splendid Toronto Reference Library. No charge, all welcome, though I will say (cautiously) that to be sure of good seats come early if you can.

Laurie and I had drinks together a few weeks back, meeting for the first time. We made each other laugh, confirmed a bunch of loved books in common (Bel Canto, yes!) and she was gracious about one or two of her favs I don’t love (may have been laying an ambush, of course). I’m looking forward to chatting with her on the 4th. I like conversations at events like this, livelier than just standing up front alone, and I enjoy having another mind, perspective, sense of humour to bounce off, and good questions make me think.

Of course if I start thinking on stage, who knows where we’ll end up.

I’ve had some memorable launches, could almost, with enough time and memories dredged up, do a chronicle of them. We used to use the library at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus, and I loved that room (anyone remember being there for a launch?). It had very personal associations for me, as I used to skip law school classes to read the New Yorker and Harpers in that library. The room was warm, had deep leather couches for some lucky attendees, others squeezed in on the floor close to me, for the last couple of events they left the doors open to let people in the hallway hear and even ran a sound system out there … and then Penguin and the university organizers ran afoul of fire regulations for numbers in the room and we had to move to the theatre space in Hart House, which I never liked as much.

Venue makes a huge difference, as any actor or singer will tell you. The intimacy of the Hart House library made me (and I suspect a lot of the audience) feel very differently than we did when shifting to the big theatre stage and raked seating. I like the Reference Library setting we’re using in April, we were there for Under Heaven three years ago. The atrium space can hold a large audience, but is very wide, so people aren’t pushed way, way back. Somehow that feels better.

I’ve read on tour in a pub, twice, in Ottawa, for Perfect Books. That was fun. A single malt at one’s elbow does nice things at an event, yes. And people are …well, sometimes slightly different at the signing stage, after a couple of Stellas or Cosmopolitans. I’ve also read in churches a few times. No, I didn’t tailor the subject matter to the location, but neither did I have a single malt.

Oh. Wait. I lied. A church in Calgary (I think) was where I read with a head cold I’d reported online, and a reader came up in line at the end, crouched by my signing table, took out a glass and showed me, discreetly, two scotches from which to choose. He then poured me a good, ‘curative’ shot. That is a reader.

I am attaching, for the pure nostalgia of it, a photo Martin Springett digitized, from the launch of The Darkest Road – in 1986! It shows Mike Hale, later a novelist, who was also a graphic designer and did the layout for the trilogy, Martin, who did the three covers, Sue Reynolds, also a novelist later, who did the map for Fionavar, a somewhat younger version of me, and John Rose, the founder/owner of Bakka Books in Toronto where we had the celebration. Yes, I smile looking at it. Yes, it makes me feel old. There’s a line I love in John Fowles’ Daniel Martin: “Ban the green from your life, and what are you left with?’

Mike Hale, Martin Springett, Sue Reynolds, GGK, John Rose – note original paintings!

As half-promised yesterday: HarperCollins in the UK have confirmed that their ARC is now final and can be shared. (It’ll be going out there soon, just as ARCs in Canada and the States are.)

A few notes before the unveiling below. ARCs there are closer in style to what I remember from the old days here, too, when they were still called galleys: a deliberately rougher, less finished look, meant to not be confused with anything like the real book to come. (Note the phrase on the back: “Introducing River of Stars“) They’ve gotten glossier in North America, but aren’t always so in the UK, and HarperCollins are in that  camp.

So this needs to be seen in that context. It is even possible that their finished book for July will have an entirely different look, but I am betting it won’t. I like this fine as a concept. I think it captures an elegant, more literary aspect of the novel and the time inspiring it – which is consistent with their change of imprints for River of Stars in the UK. I think that properly refined, polished, colours sorted, details added and typeface thought through, this will work very well, be quite beautiful. And I appreciate the thought and care going into this repositioning. (You can click it to see it larger.)

HarperCollins UK ARC

This can’t last, and it would kill my image if it did, but I’m actually pretty upbeat today. Teasing in comments will be tolerated only marginally. Proceed with caution.

First of all, the earliest professional responses to River of Stars have been wonderful. There are some colleagues whose judgement I wait for, and those are starting to come in. It isn’t just enthusiasm or excitement a writer hopes for, it is – always – smart, insightful reading. People getting aspects of what one is after in a given book. Because I’m not prolific, each reappearance feels as if it weighs more, matters more, I guess. And if any author tells you they are used to the period of awaiting initial responses … well, raise an eyebrow or two on my behalf.

I had thought I might release the UK cover for the Advance ReadingCopy (their ARC) this afternoon but I want to wait a day or two to confirm they see this as final for the ARC. I am pretty sure it is, and I like it a lot. Very different approach, also very much an ARC – which is to say, not a finished look yet, more like ‘notes towards a final book’ – but it works for me. It could even change before it is final but this is a good look. I am aware this is teasing a bit. Will post soon.

Another half-tease … Penguin Canada are close to the formal announcement of the auction they do each book. They auction the first book off the press, certified as such, and signed by me to that effect. This will be the fourth time, as best I recall. The proceeds go to Indigo’s “Love of Reading” charity, and I am a true believer in the idea that literacy empowers people. This announcement should go out within a day or two. I’ll post it here, too.

I also just received by courier this afternoon the cover ‘flat’ for the book. The actual cover. This isn’t a tease -those who wanted to have seen the full cover in various places by now. But there is something special about the real thing for me, and there will be another kick when I get my author copies of the whole book in a week or two (unless they are, for those who remember the story I love to tell, copies of A History of World Whaling).

So, various reasons for a brief withdrawal from Chronic Curmudgeon Mode. Fear not, normal demeanour is likely to return shortly. (All I have to do is think about Curtis Granderson’s broken arm from yesterday…)

Yesterday, in a comment on the Coode St post here, a thoughtful reader commented:

I do miss the days when you would have a novel come out with much less build-up and hype, but the world has changed, hasn’t it? I’m trying to preserve what I can by keeping my knowledge of RIVER to this: “It’s a Kay novel influenced by historical China.”

And you know, in thinking about that, I’ve decided I’m not going to read any reviews at all. I know I’m going to read RIVER at some point. No reviewer’s opinion will change that. Avoiding the hype will be difficult, however…

I started typing a reply in the Comments, but I wonder how many people find these, and his note is worth a discussion.

Matthew, as I have said before, I have intense memories of days when the arrival of a new book by an author I liked was signalled by … the arrival of the book. I’d see it in the library or on the shelves of a bookstore. And the feeling I recall from such moments is intense. Once, with Dorothy Dunnett’s Ringed Castle, I grabbed it out of the ‘new arrivals’ shelf at the library with such ferocity, that people backed away from the crazy teen.

It is hard to imagine a book lover being that oblivious to a forthcoming book today, unless they work at it.

So you are right, the process for this, as for so much else, has changed enormously. For one thing, as I also mentioned earlier, advance orders are important for a book and publishers. They affect print runs, in-house enthusiasm (or the lack of it) and even the final marketing budget. Energy begets energy. A set of strong blog reviews can help create the existence of a major print review somewhere else if the publicists are on the ball.

There is also a vanishingly small window of opportunity for new books these days. Shelf space at a book chain, or highly viisble placement online, are granted – and taken away swiftly if a book isn’t moving. So they are expected to hit the ground running, so to speak.

This means that today the publishers need a book to arrive anticipated, not just build enthusiasm over time after it is released. (Obviously they want the second thing, too, but the first is the newly critical element.) In a sped-up culture, this, too, is now sped up.

With publishers under pressure in so many ways it is understandable that they turn to social media and intense advance marketing to try to make books happen. It creates a lot of chatter and noise, but then on social media maybe that fits. I would feel worse than curmudgeonly if I refused to allow this, or declined to help out. Unless one self-publishes, bringing out a book is a partnership, a collaboration, and I do feel that – with limits that vary from person to person – an author ought to assist his or her publishers.

I’ll give one example. I have been worrying about overexposure in interviews right now. My various publicists tell me this is, well, silly. I have done, and am lined up to do, a great many conversations, either by email or in person, in the next two or three months. I am sure some readers will end up in eye-roll mode as they read or listen to me making the same joke or observation again. (See what I’m doing? I riffed on this two or three posts back here. You are seeing it again!)

But the publicists are adamant that only a small portion of people find an author’s interviews more than one or two times. That multiple venues are critical to reach and exposure. It is analogous to a politician making the same stump speech over and over, to different audiences. If CNN show the same clip every time, he or she will sound appallingly repetitious, but the people in the audience each night may well be hearing it for the first (and only) time.

As I type, I am thinking now about what happens here … if I do alerts on Twitter or Facebook or this journal of a new interview I am contributing to that repetition-factor, unless I have managed to say something quite new — and that turns almost entirely on being asked something new! I think alerts to reviews are different, by the way, by definition, each review is its own opinion, and they aren’t me.

On the other hand, and again my publishers have made this point, a Journal like this, or Twitter followers draw, by self-selection, people with at least some interest in tracking what is going on as a book comes out and responses to it emerge. It would feel kind of eccentric to not share information with people here. I am not averse to occasional eccentricities, as many will know by now, but I try not to be defined by them.

Bottom line, Matthew and I share a wistful nostalgia for days when none of this happened. But nostalgia has its own problems, and it is probably smartest to see this phenomenon – advance discussion of a book-to-come – as simply a part of the world we’ve given ourselves.

There are upsides. I got to make some wonderfully awful (what oxymoron?) puns on #BellLetsTalk day on Twitter.

I was expecting the first public responses to River of Stars to begin arriving at the end of this month or in early March. That is when Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal and some early blogs weigh in, about a month before books are on sale. PW and LJ are both still very influential in shaping buying patterns for bookstores and libraries.

But yesterday I received an alert that Gary Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan of the Coode St Podcast had invited Cecelia Holland on air to discuss the book and they’d posted their podcast. They’d all received ARCs a little while back. Cecelia is a novelist I admired well before I ever wrote anything myself: read The Kings in Winter, Until the Sun Falls, Great Maria, and see. Gary might kill me for saying it, but he is an eminence gris of critical writing in speculative fiction, and Jonathan is the editor of numerous anthologies and the reviews editor for Locus Magazine. If I say I value their responses a lot, I am understating it. Thoughtful reading from people you respect is a writer’s eternal dream.

I’m extremely happy. A discussion like this is a reward, for any of us, and this is an awfully good way to start with a new novel. I should warn you that there is a mention of Isaac Asimov’s sex life at one point. It is actually relevant. Really.

There are slight spoilers, more by nuance than explicit giveaways. (Spoilers for River, not for Asimov.)

http://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/2013/02/18/episode-135-cecelia-holland-on-river-of-stars/

And another nice thing, completely different. The winner of the signed ARC of River of Stars in the Grim Oak fundraiser had a good idea and checked in with Shawn Speakman who is behind all these donations and auctions. He suggested that since it was a ‘two horse race’ at the end, maybe the runner-up would be willing to pay her high bid, if I’d donate a second signed ARC. Of course I would, and splendidly she did. So two ARCs were on the way when Shawn heard from a third person saying he’d match the high bid if I was willing to send a third ARC out, signed (by both mapmaker Martin Springett, and myself).

Very happy to do so. Means over $1000 was raised for the auction and I’m really pleased. Shawn does good work in this, and Duane, the beneficiary this time around, is one of the good people. (Scroll down to see a longer post on all of this, from when it began.)

A shorter post, more a heads-up. First interview in the run-up to River of Stars is now online. There will be a number of others as we turn towards spring. I actually worry about overexposure, and the publicists laugh indulgently at me.

Their key point is that most people do not see more than one or two of these, if any of them at all. The core number who track me here, or on Twitter, or on the Bright Weavings Facebook page or main site will get alerts to most of them and you are the group who will be in a position to grin and note when I have given the same answer four times (and pity me for fielding the same question over and again). Odds are good you’ll also catch me in contradictions. Or even using the word ‘tangible’.

But the underlying assumption of all PR and marketing in the book world (and not only there) is that you need many channels for information to get out and find people, which means a fair bit of overlap will happen, or be seen by those who do keep track.

You’ll see. I have been making my ‘frustrated hockey player’ joke for years and years, and will likely make it a few times more this year. May shift to baseball. Watch for it.

Here’s the first interview:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/interview-guy-gavriel-kay-author-of-river-of-stars/

Told you. Both hockey and baseball.

I did a photo shoot yesterday afternoon and the photographer bravely worked with what she had … namely me. We shall see. But I was beginning to worry about a ‘truth in advertising’ factor, as the official photo (which will still be on the book jackets) is a few years back now. We will be sent a digital contact sheet from which to pick a few. I canvass very carefully selected family, friends, and colleagues for opinions. Hysterical laughter is discouraged.

The fundraising auction of a signed early ARC of River of Stars ends tomorrow, by the way.

http://grimoakpress.com/auctions-2/signed-arc-river-of-stars-by-guy-gavriel-kay/

A shorter post, more a heads-up. First interview in the run-up to River of Stars is now online. There will be a number of others as we turn towards spring. I actually worry about overexposure, and the publicists laugh indulgently at me.

Their key point is that most people do not see more than one or two of these, if any of them at all. The core number who track me here, or on Twitter, or on the Bright Weavings Facebook page or main site will get alerts to most of them and you are the group who will be in a position to grin and note when I have given the same answer four times (and pity me for fielding the same question over and again). Odds are good you’ll also catch me in contradictions. Or even using the word ‘tangible’.

But the underlying assumption of all PR and marketing in the book world (and not only there) is that you need many channels for information to get out and find people, which means a fair bit of overlap will happen, or be seen by those who do keep track.

You’ll see. I have been making my ‘frustrated hockey player’ joke for years and years, and will likely make it a few times more this year. May shift to baseball. Watch for it.

Here’s the first interview:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/interview-guy-gavriel-kay-author-of-river-of-stars/

Told you. Both hockey and baseball.

I did a photo shoot yesterday afternoon and the photographer bravely worked with what she had … namely me. We shall see. But I was beginning to worry about a ‘truth in advertising’ factor, as the official photo (which will still be on the book jackets) is a few years back now. We will be sent a digital contact sheet from which to pick a few. I canvass very carefully selected family, friends, and colleagues for opinions. Hysterical laughter is discouraged.

The fundraising auction of a signed early ARC of River of Stars ends tomorrow, by the way.

http://grimoakpress.com/auctions-2/signed-arc-river-of-stars-by-guy-gavriel-kay/

Nice, when someone else does a Journal entry I can post! To clarify: July is hardcover release in UK, with a cover being designed now, but the e-books will be available there on April 2nd, as in US and Canada.

New literary epic River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

12 February 2013:

Emma Coode, Deputy Publishing Director of HarperCollins, has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in the historical literary epic River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay from Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown Ltd.

Having successfully published Guy Gavriel Kay’s last eleven novels under the HarperVoyager imprint, Coode has made a decision to bring his latest novel River of Stars to market under the HarperFiction list, to demonstrate Kay’s crossover and literary appeal.

Emma Coode said: “Guy has surpassed himself with his latest novel, which seamlessly combines beautiful prose, impeccable historical research and captivating adventure. Publishing Guy on the HarperFiction list, alongside literary historical fiction authors like Tracy Chevalier, places him in esteemed company and feels both natural and exciting.”

Guy Gavriel Kay said: “I am very happy to be working again with the HarperCollins team, and honoured by the degree of enthusiasm they are showing for River of Stars, and the imagination and energy being applied to help it find new readers in the UK.”

In his previous critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author returns with an absorbing tale inspired by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty four hundred years later. Themes of culture and power, the burden of history, women’s roles in a narrowing world, and love in many forms guide and inform a beautifully crafted novel that moves from the grandest scale to deeply-moving human intimacy.

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay will be published in hardback on 18^th July 2013

 About the author: Guy Gavriel Kay is the internationally bestselling author of twelve novels. In the 1970s he was retained by the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien to assist in the editorial construction of Tolkien’s posthumously published The Silmarillion. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in the literature of the fantastic, is a two-time winner of the Aurora Award, and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. His works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Issued by:

Ann Bissell HarperFiction Publicity.

T: 020 8307 4319 E: ann.bissell@harpercollins.co.uk