Category Archives: novel

Questions

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Taking a break from painting, but can’t afford to be away from it for too long. One thing I’ve discovered about living in a valley in a more northerly latitude during wintertime is that daylight is a fleeting commodity. By about 3:30pm the light is pretty much gone, and when you’re painting floor and window trim especially, you kind of need it.

My office may be one of the last rooms we get sorted out. Too many others have priority. Which is fine—I have a functional workspace, so I can do what I need to do. I’ll just be doing it surrounded by boxes. Most of which I’d really like to get into. Especially my references, since The Emperor in Shadow sticks as closely to the historical timeline of actual events as I can manage. Working within a well-documented historical period is rather like writing sonnets—you are working with strictures on what you can and cannot do, and the trick is to be creative within those constraints. Indeed, I find that they work with me more than against. Sort of like, “Well, if this thing happened then, what was going on behind the scenes? What do we not know about it?”

Asking the right question at the right time is a hell of a lot better than knowing all the answers to the wrong questions. If writing doesn’t teach a person that much right off, they’re just not paying attention.

Publisher’s Giveaway

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WRITING 02I didn’t do it this time. Prime Books has arranged for a giveaway for two Prime Books editions: The War God’s Son, but also Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal. Go here to enter. Deadline is November 24th for Word Puppets and November 25th for The War God’s Son.

I may be scarce for a few days. I’m back in Mississippi to help finish packing for the move, and then to transport the rest of our household back to Upstate. I’ll try to get back on something as close to an even keel as I ever manage once we’re settled. However long that takes.

Words have power. You can tell, because in the wake of the tragedies in Paris and Beirut and Baghdad, so many people are misusing them. Sad and angry as I might be at the moment, I want to think about that for a bit before I say anything.

Reporting From Upstate

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IMG_0377Don’t you hate it when someone gives you the “I know something you don’t know. It’s really cool, but I can’t tell you.” That one? Well, this one is sort of like that one—I’ve seen the preliminary cover art (by Alegion) for The Emperor in Shadow. It’s pretty much done, but I can’t show it to you just yet, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it is indeed very cool, in my opinion the best cover on the series so far. And I’ve seen it and you can’t. Don’t you just hate that? Don’t you wish I’d just curl up and DIE? Or worse, send me to the Harmony Hut? Your call. I’ll be over here fretting about something else entirely. I got a million of ’em.

I’ve been sleeping on a thin quilted pad with a quilted quilt over me for the last two weeks as I’ve attempted to get the new house sorted before the move. I rather fancy the experience mimics that of the way the Heian (and a lot of other era) Japanese slept, with a roll up futon for a bed and their clothes or blankets as covers in however many layers the season required. It’s at once uncomfortable to someone used to a western-style bed and yet I sleep very well, to my own surprise. Almost too well, sometimes. Things to do.

A contact in Belgium has licensed non-exclusive French Language rights to translate “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls” into, yes, French. Looking forward to seeing it, even though I can’t read French. It’s just the idea. So far I’ve had stories translated into Russian, French, Chinese, and Japanese. Germany and the Latin and Nordic countries remain holdouts. If anyone in those countries would like to read anything of mine in their native language, bug your local publisher. They’re in charge of those things, not me.

Announcing a Contest

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I received the official word from Audible.com that Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son is available in audiobook format (I know some of you were already aware of this fact). What you didn’t know is that they also just sent me some one-time codes for a free copy of the audio version. More than I can use, actually, so rather than let them go to waste, I thought I’d try to give some of those who read this blog a shot at one.

I haven’t done many of these, but a contest seemed the fairest way, so if any of you are interested, let’s have one. Below the next paragraph is the “official” description of the book at Amazon, or B&N, etc. Some of you may have even seen it, but what you might not know is that the listing contains a typographical error. That is, a rather important word is spelled wrong. I’ve been assured that it will be corrected, but you know how these things work—once it’s on the internet, the genie is out of the bottle. Chances are it’ll always be there, somewhere.

So here’s what I’ll do—to the first person who spots the mistake and sends me an email (you know how to translate this: ogresan(at)gmaildotcom )correctly identifying the error, I will send a free coupon code good for one copy of the audiobook version of Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son, marvelously narrated by Brian Nishii, along with instructions for using that coupon (not complicated, but for those who aren’t familiar with Audible.com, probably helpful). I’m not going to claim that there is ONLY one mistake in the listing, but keep in mind that I am looking for a very specific one, and the decision of the judge–me–is final:

“The Abe clan and its allies are in full rebellion. When the Emperor’s greatest military leader, Yoshii, is targeted for assassination by magic, it is up to the newly sober Lord Yamada and his exorcist associate Kenji to keep the young man alive long enough to put down the uprising before the entire country is consumed by war. Yamada knows how to deal with demons, monsters, and angry ghosts, but the greatest threat of all is one final assassin, hidden in a place where no one—especially Lord Yamada—would ever think to look.”

There and Back Again

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IMG_0402I apologize for missing last Monday’s post, but I was on the road to our new home to take care of some prep before we take full possession. The house itself is that white edifice to the left of your screen, After thirty-three years the place where I made my living (and enabled my writing) closed down, putting me “quite at my leisure,” as Mr. Bennet might say,

So here’s the thing–we decided to leave. Most of my immediate family had moved out of state already, and with few ties to hold us, we decided to do the same, on the theory that I can be unemployed anywhere, so we might as well be somewhere we want to be. We chose upstate New York, trading brutal summers for brutal winters. I never said it was the smart thing to do. It probably wasn’t. It was, however, the necessary thing to do for reasons I won’t bore you with. We’re going to make it work.

View from Rte 167

View from Rte 167

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View from our back patio.

View of the Mohawk From Downtown.

View of the Mohawk From Downtown.

I did manage to get a little writing done on the new book. All this has been quite a disruption, as you can imagine, but I’ll get it done. In the meantime, here’s some comment from Publisher’s Weekly on The War God’s Son:

“… With a refreshingly conversational narrative, Parks captures the different facets of Japanese mythology and visions of the supernatural. Lord Yamada is a complex and entertaining protagonist, and his personal battles, whether with demons or his relationships with women, are compelling. Parks creates a rich world, further proving that in this series, nothing is as it seems. Suspenseful and often thought-provoking, Parks’s work is a delight to read. (Oct.)”