Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

[kerravonsen]

I got a letter this week, which had me bursting with squee.

A fantasy novel I had read an early draft of many years ago, a novel I utterly adored, a novel I dared not hope would ever be published... has been published.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Ahem)

http://www.manycoloured.com/

The author is Annie Hamilton, long-time friend of mine, who taught me huge amounts about writing and editing, back in the day.

The story itself, which I read when it was titled "Tumbl'tower", might, at first glance, seem to be just another of the ten million children's fantasy novels around - it's got goblins and elves and magic, and human protagonists on a quest through a fantastical land - but there are places where it subverts the tropes, and others where it introduces things that are completely new. There are characters I loved, and a sort of mythic depth to it - you feel as if the Realm is old, with layers of history in it, not just a clone of modern Europe with magic-technology slapped on the top of it.

And, as the author points out on the site, there isn't a map. (grin)

Comments

[kaffy_r]

This is wonderful! You must be so proud of your friend!

[kerravonsen]

Oddly enough, pride is not the emotion I'm feeling. I wonder why?
Why would I have felt proud, if I had felt proud? Hmmm.

I don't feel a proprietry pride, because it's not like I contributed in any way to her accomplishment.

I don't feel a proud-of-her-recognition, because I don't feel that publication, in this case, validates the worth of the work: it was already awesome, whether it was published or not. Also, it isn't actually her first published novel, it's her second. Part of the reason I'd almost given up hope in it being published was that it wasn't as if she hadn't already tried to get it published, and it wasn't as if everyone she sent it to hated it; one of the reasons it wasn't published was that it was perceived as being too long for a YA novel, and, unfortunately, when she tried to break it up into a trilogy, all that happened was that it got longer (but still as one whole). Possibly I'm less impressed than I used to be with "being chosen for publication" as a measure of the worth of a work, because there's a lot of rubbish that gets published, and a lot of good stuff that doesn't. Being published is simply the measure of the publishablity of the work, and there are some classes of work (such as fanfic) which have excellent works in them, but will never be publishable. Perhaps "The Many-Coloured Realm" would never have been considered publishable until after the success of the Harry Potter books, which not only brought Fantasy back in vogue, but which got longer and longer as the series went on.

Golly, I didn't intend to go into a rant about the publishing industry!

No, I don't feel proud. But I am excited and pleased that I will now be able to share this awesome novel with the rest of the world. Yay!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, brilliant! I loved her fiction!

[kerravonsen]

Really? What stuff by her have you read?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Wasn't she a regular contributor to Enarrare? Or am I mistaking her for someone else?

[kerravonsen]

No you aren't mistaking her for someone else; she was an editor and contributor. I wasn't aware that you were familiar with Enarrare, that's all.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine agented it in the UK back in the early 90s. I read her copies, and I have a copy of the beautiful big black collection, which I used to take round cons to get signed by actors. Some of the best B7 fic I've ever read.

[kerravonsen]

Ah yes, the Big Black Zine, the Opus, the Special Edition. Probably the most impressive zine I've ever seen.

If you like Space: Above and Beyond, Annie also wrote an awesome series of stories set after the end of SAAB. They were in Enarrare issues 10-11 and 14-16, alas, out of print. (Note to self: go and re-read them).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I ever watched more than a couple of episodes of S:AAB. I think it might have been on while I was moving around a fair bit.

It's a stunning zine. I'm just sorting through my zines at the moment, I might pull it out and have a read.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Very cool! It's fun to watch friends succeed in getting their awesome work out to a bigger audience.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

How exciting!