Tag Archives: Lord Yamada

Odd Ends and One More Update

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Two For ChristmasThis morning I sent off the copyedited manuscript of To Break the Demon Gate, along with a list of preferred artists to do the cover, to the publisher. One advantage of working with a specialty publisher for things like limited editions is that you often have some input into matters like cover art, which is less likely to happen for the more traditional editions. It can and does happen, but not routinely. Regardless, there was one artist I’ve been a fan of since my early days, and he’s one that PS Publishing does work with, so it could happen. Right now the schedule is still looking good for a spring release, probably around March. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

The copyeditor pronounced the manuscript “clean,” which is good, though in a couple of places he/she did get confused by word choices that aren’t as common in British usage, so I had to clear that up, but overall there wasn’t a lot to do. One thing I am going to need to do is convert the manuscript from British spelling and usage back to American spelling and usage for the trade reprint edition, still scheduled for next December. The limited edition will be the hardcover edition, so it just depends on your preference. And patience.

I want to keep up the weekly blog schedule during December, but there’s a chance that’s not going to happen. To be perfectly blunt, I’m not altogether sane this time of year… I mean less than usual. It’s a character flaw of mine that I find the holidays extremely stressful and crazy-making, and this year isn’t going to be any different, except for a possible ramp-up of intensity. Most of it is of my own making, but that doesn’t change the fact. If I can get through to January without major drama, I’ll score that a win. If you don’t hear from me before then, have a safe and happy rest of the month, and I’ll see you on the other side.

 

Yamada’s Saga – Timeline

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Japanese Mask

It occurs to me, with the mixing of short fiction and novel-length stories that make up the Yamada timeline, that it might not be a bad idea to set this all out now, at least to the degree I understand it (and if you think the writer knows everything about what they’ve done, think again). Most of the stories occur in the timeline/continuity in the order that they were written, but the novels do throw one or two curves into the mix, so here goes:

 

“Fox Tails” – First Yamada story written. Knew it was a series then, didn’t know where it was going.

“Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” – Second Yamada story. Yamada’s sad history with Princess Teiko is revealed. This was the story where I think I first got a good handle on who Yamada was and what he was about.

YAMADA MONOGATARI: DEMON HUNTER.  First Yamada collection. The stories contained therein were usually a reader’s first introduction to the series and were published over a span of years and appear in the order they were written, but the continuity is not complete in them because….

Here’s where it gets a little complicated:

TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE.  First actual Yamada novel. TBTDG incorporates “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” which forms the first section of the book, and no, I didn’t know that it was the first section of a novel when I wrote it. I figured that out later. The balance of the novel concerns the events leading up to Yamada’s final confrontation with Lord Sentaro. This was written after several of the stories appearing in YM:DH but before “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest,” which ends the collection, but in the continuity of the series, they all, except “Fox Tails” and “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge,” occur after the events of the novel. At the end of TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE, Yamada has still not made peace with the memory of Princess Teiko. That comes later (see “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.”) I’m not sure when the PS Publishing limited edition is coming out, but Prime Books has the trade reprint scheduled for December 2014.

“The Sorrow of Rain” – If you have no idea what this story is, that is because it hasn’t been published yet. But it falls in the timeline before “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest” but after TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE.(Edited to note: Oops. It falls after “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.”  I misremembered.)

THE WAR GOD’S SON – complete but under revision. The events of this book occur about seven years after “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest,” and take place after all the short stories written to date in the continuity. The novel is set during what is usually referred to as The Nine Years’ War in Japanese history (though, with delays and truces, it was more like twelve). The tearing of the social fabric that will eventually bring about the end of the Heian Period and the rise of the samurai is already evident, but won’t manifest completely for another hundred and twenty years. We also get to meet Yamada’s elder sister. There is no current publication date scheduled.

And that’s where it stands. Confused? I would be. I often am.

Good Literature Should Taste Good, Too

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Chapter4Apparently First Reader is not the only resident who gets to have a say in regards to The War God’s Son. Sheffield the Cat had some incisive (incisors?) commentary on the lead to Chapter 4. You can see his commentary expressed with his usual directness. The green marks are from First Reader. There’s precedent, of course. The late great Early the Cat used to sit in my manuscript boxes, back when hardcopy was everything and I always printed out the day’s progress. I imagine to this day in some of my papers there are manuscripts with calico cat hair between the pages….

Oh right. Present day, if not present tense. As is pretty typical at this stage of the process, for my own part I have an alternating love/hate relationship with the text. Sometimes I just zip through revisions, and at others I can’t stand to look at it. Sometimes I think it’s among the best things I’ve ever done, at others, not so much.  As I said, typical. The jury’s still out with First Reader, though she is quick to point out that my punctuation is atrocious (her word, not mine). I beg to differ. My punctuation is not atrocious. It’s commas, mostly. I think commas should do what I want them to do, and I put them where I darn well want. She says commas do what they are grammatically required to do, belong only where they are required to belong. I think this is a philosophical divide that we may never manage to bridge.

As for Sheffield, he pronounces Chapter 4 “chewy.” Something he can really get his teeth into.

Marathon, Meet Cliff

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WRITING 02Finishing a novel first draft feels a little like running a marathon only to fall off a cliff at the end of it. You’re rather at loose ends, flailing around. Sometimes there’s even a thud at the end of the fall which is, as others have noted for the male writers, probably as close to post-partum depression as we’ll ever experience. All by way of saying that the first draft of The War God’s Son is complete. I finished it last week with one 8000 word session and a late night of small continuity tweaks that I wanted to make while they were fresh in my mind. I was pretty much spot on as to what the length would be, right at 92000 words. As I said, I don’t do doorstops, but the publisher I have in mind is happy with the length. I tend to put in as much as I take out on subsequent drafts, so the final length might not be that different. Continue reading →

Dog Days

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Bkack Kath's Daughter-2This is more of a check-in than an actual proper blog post. What we used to call a “drive-by posting.” It’s September, so naturally we’re still in the grip of what should be properly called August+. The heat won’t really break until maybe mid-September…if we’re lucky. So far the heat has taken the willow, maple, and one of the blueberry bushes we planted this spring. We won’t know the full extent of the damage until next spring, but we’ll either replant or face the fact that whatever comes up of its own accord is probably the only plant worth bothering about. For instance, the Yoshino cherry I planted a couple years ago dropped dead within three weeks.. It’s now been replaced by a popcorn tree that wanted the spot. I’ll see if it does any better.

The War God’s Son is in the home stretch. The draft passed the 80k mark last week and it might—might—have 10k to go. Likely it’ll grow a little in the rewrite, since I’m one of those who tend to embellish as much or more than I cut, but if it turns out over 90k words I’ll be surprised. Like any other project, ideally it turns out as long as it has to be and no longer. And for those (both of you) who have been wondering about the sequel to Black Kath’s Daughter, it’s next on the agenda, but I have to finish this one first.

I couldn’t sign off without mentioning the passing of Fred Pohl. He was one of the last of the old guard SF writers. “There were giants in the earth in those days.” I’m old enough to remember the passing of several of them: Heinlein, Asimov, Leiber, Anderson, Clarke, and that’s not even counting the ones who went before their time, like Tom Reamy. It’s rather like watching history passing before your eyes. The field has been undergoing something like a sea-change in the last several years, and the loss of Pohl only emphasizes it. Change happens. That’s all.