News Archive

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September 2005

Regarding the Ivanhoe novel. Pat has quit working on it at present for two reasons. The first is that she got a contract to write the 4th Jame novel from Meisha Merlin. The second is that her agent (after showing the outline and first chapters to some editors) told Pat that she (the agent) would not continue to try to sell the novel until the outline was reworked so that the book would be a trilogy (it became apparent to everyone that the book would be huge). That doesn't mean randomly introducing stopping points in the present outline, but rethinking the organization of the story--including some replotting. As you all know, Pat is a slow writer and has to concentrate on one thing at a time. Once she finishes the 4th novel (which is now the first half of what had been planned as the fourth novel), Pat is uncertain as to whether she wants to rework the Ivanhoe outline or start on the 5th Jame novel (the second half of Jame at Tentir). In any case, when the Ivanhoe outline is finally reworked, it needs to be sold by Pat's agent before Pat will continue actually writing more chapters. And you know how slowly Pat writes. It will likely be a very long time before the Ivanhoe novel/trilogy/? winds up in print.

I thought I had heard on this list that both the 4th and the 5th Jame novels had been sold to Meisha Merlin and were next. Not that I am trying to discourage speculation and opinion sharing, I think it's fun. My only wish would be that we could clone PC and have about four books a year. Then I might be happy. But I only offer that in a hushed voice because having the complicated creative process and the incredible result that the Jame books offer is so rare. I couldn't possibly vote against the 5th Jame novel coming up next, but I have become fascinated by that mediaeval time period and the mysterious religious and cultural things that were going on in the south of France. And of course her idea of hidden history fascinates.

Another interesting point in her dissertation was that Scott has been disparged for being inaccurate historically and extremely fanciful, but PC demonstrates that on the contrary he was very current with the best science and historical scholars of the time, it was just that they were so rapidly outdated within a short time after Scott's death. And of course, reading the dissertation has interested me in the hand he had in the Celtic Revival which has been one of the creative springboards that led to a renewal of interest in fanciful tales leading to science fiction and fantasy genres.

August 2005

> Was anyone at Interthingie to hear the scheduled reading by P.C. Hodgell?
> Any reports on if it were held, and if so, what was in the reading?

I assume you mean Interaction, one of the Interthingys.

She read a scene early on in Jame 4, the arrival at Tentir. Jame being who she is, all kinds of things go wrong, from student fights to partial structure collapse.

david

P.S. Some pictures: Melinda and Pat
Reading

July 2005

> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005
> From: "the_zedmeister"
> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ states:
>
> "TO RIDE A RATHORN will cover the first half of Jame's year at Tentir,
> and will be published Aug 2006, with plans to premier it at the LA
> WorldCon."
>
> Just the first half?! Can anybody confirm this?

Yup, I can confirm. The book just kept growing and growing and eventually got to be two books (if you remember, Seeker's Mask was originally supposed to be the start of the Tentir novel).

Melinda

June 2005

Are any of the Hodgell fans coming to Interaction, the Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention this August? I see from http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/proglist.htm that P.C. is planning to come as well.

[Note: Worldcon & Eurocon - Glasgow August 4-8 2005]

April 2005

I wanted to let you know I did a little post on the Meisha Merlin SFF NET message board about Pat's upcoming title.

"Just wanted to say that I've read the first 150ish pages of her new book and it is fantastic. The title is 'To Ride a Rathorn'. PC's goal is to have a finished manuscript to Meisha Merlin in Oct 2005. Our goal is to launch it in hardcover at the LA WorldCon in 2006."

Years ago, when the story Stranger Blood was relatively new, I and someone else at a Minicon asked the author "who is Kracarn."

"He's some fool kid [who attached himself to Jame," she said, and indicated that Kracarn had something of a romantic view that he had attached himself to Jame like some sort of knight in shining armor protecting and guarding and guiding the noble lady out of devotion [something like the Voice of a Personage in Cherryh's Compact Space, where the Voice appoints herself or himself as official public speaker for the Personage, it's a very presumptuous thing, and the Personage doesn't always approve of the situation or what the Voice says. There are differences--when the Personage talks the Voice is supposed to shut up and recede from awareness of those others present, since the Personage took over. But if the Voice is talking, the Personage pretends that there is no one about and the Voice talks. What I am making the analogy to, though, is the Voice appointing herself of himself as the representative of the Personage and attaching herself or himself to the Personage as an Extremely Important Person and a barrier between the Personage and all outsider. The Voice acts like a filter and and go-between who regards the Personage as so important the Personage needs a retinue, and the Voice appointed herself or himself as that official retinue showing how important both Personage and the Voice who has appointed themself Voice, are. The Voice is someone personally ambitious who has attached themselve to someone the Voice regards as a Personage, so that the Voice gets to be Important as the speaker for and representative of and gatekeeper to the Personage--sort of like the White House Press Secretary in some ways.

March 2005

PC is visiting Portland OR this week (nobody must live around here). She looked over some of your postings and asked me to post the following:

Souls
The Kencyr list has raised some good questions about what I mean by the soul. I need to think this through better.*
What is a Kencyr soul? The essence of a person, without which they wither and die. It is possible, however, to detach a soul and have someone else carry it. I was thinking along the fairy-tale lines of a giant who hides his heart so that he can’t be injured through it. However, the detached soul is vulnerable if its keeper isn't reliable, e.g. Ishtier.
The soul is also the seat of honor. The reverse of the above is true: you can keep your soul pure by giving it away and commit terrible acts without it. Perhaps the soul is also tied to the conscience. This is what Bane tried to do, but Ishtier used his soul to create the Lower Town Monster, a demon. Which he mistook for a god and proof that TTFG wasn't the only true god.
Bane's situation is peculiar, though. I honestly don't know if he's alive or dead, nor what happened to his body. What's left of him seems to be a version of the monster, still animated by his soul. Maybe that's become his soul image.
Souls take on images specific to each person. A healer like Kindrie can get into them to work repairs. All Kencyr souls are connected by a collective soul-scape - think Jung's collective unconscious. If someone, say Ishtier, were to gain access to the soul-scape, he could do incredible harm. Jame have gotten into it or at least into her brother's soul-image, but with good intentions. This hasn’t prevented her from doing harm, but so far it's been limited. She can never heal the way that Kindrie does, but she can destroy harmful elements within the soul. The soul-scape and dream-scape are related but not the same. For example, Kindrie can't heal through the dream-scape, although he may be able to diagnose through it (think Freud). Also, as I recall, he can see clearly in the soul-scape but not in dreams.
It's especially hard to kill someone without a soul, if it’s intact elsewhere. If the soul is damaged, however, the person starts to unravel.
Souls cast shadows. Not to have a shadow is to be without a resident soul (vide Bane).
Souls appear to survive their owner’s death, as long as anything physical is left to cast a shadow. Bones, say. Hence the stress on bone-hunts and very complete pyres. Apparently, this also extends to blood, explaining why a blood-soaked death banner such as Aerulan's still seems connected to her soul and awareness. I wonder if sweat would do it too, to a lesser degree. Most of those death banners are marked in some way (perhaps more faintly) since they're traditionally woven out of the clothes in which someone died.
It sounds to me as if the Kencyrath doesn't entirely understand these matters, anymore than we are sure what happens to our souls after death. The death banners seem to be a blind spot, or an unconscious bid for some sort of immortality. I wonder how long it's been the custom to weave them. They hang in the Master's Hall. Maybe, in a sense, they're his larder of souls. Maybe he started the tradition in the first place, with that in the back of his mind. It's a thought, anyway.
*Note: I usually don't start out knowing all the answers. If I did, I would never get around to writing at all. I trust my subconscious to keep me on track, but am aware I can be inconsistent as my ideas change and/or mature. To lost knowledge and ignorant character syndrome, add ignorant author - although I prefer to think of us both on a quest for knowledge and understanding. All my plots are set up that way - throw Jame into a situation and have her figure her way out of it as I take notes.

The next book, apparently having at the moment a title someting like Rage of Rathorns, is in progress, the publisher is hoping to have a full manuscript of it this summer to be able to publish it in 2006. The publisher, Meisha-Merlin, arranged with Diamond last year for Diamond to distribute its books, and that has added a six month lead time to book production/publication necessary for the distributor to put the books in its catalog and promote them to retail outlets. Since this means better distribution and more retail outlets carrying more copies of Meisha-Merlin books, this should translater to higher sales and higher profits for not just Meisha-Merlin, but it's authors, too.

Source of the discussion about Meisha-Merlin-- a conversation with Stephe Pagel, head of Meisha-Merlin, at Noreascon 4 at the start of September.

Regarding the following: Pat is too busy with programming at conventions to do art shows and the like. And no way for an e-business. Trust me on this one. Pat just got her schedule for Worldcon in Boston: 3 panels, a reading, an autograph session, and a kaffeeklatsch.

July 2004

Regarding the following: Pat is too busy with programming at conventions to do art shows and the like. And no way for an e-business. Trust me on this one. Pat just got her schedule for Worldcon in Boston: 3 panels, a reading, an autograph session, and a kaffeeklatsch.

I've been looking at all the postings wishing Pat would find more time to write. Basically, she needs to eat and pay bills. Unfortunately, the royalties off the books (what little they are) don't begin to cover it. So she teaches. Which takes all of her energy. When she teaches, she doesn't write. When she's not teaching, you can tell when her creative juices are flowing. She writes, knits, and creates stained glass. Her knitting and stained glass is something special--pieces of art. If you've seen the artwork for her books, you'll get an idea of her talent. She's done commission work for friends, but has been unable to find a shop in her local area to sell her stuff. If anyone knows of a shop that will sell one-of-a-kind stained glass pieces or multi-colored (20 plus colors) knitted vests for what they are actually worth ($300+), please let me know. (Or if you know anyone who has that kind of money and would like a "PC Hodgell original").

Hi Group: I've just spent a week going around Lake Superior with PC. She's got four chapters written, along with the bulk of the fifth chapter and some interim bits. She's planning on taking the year off from teaching, and is hoping to have the book finished by next year. As to Marc: he's in the fourth novel; he's at Gothregor repairing stained glass windows; he'll turn down the offer of a place with Tori because he's waiting for Jame, who will be establishing a keep in book 6. Marc isn't bound to Jame, but will be the "Rowan" for Jame once she's established a household. Marc may or may not visit Tentir in this book, but he's definitely present in the book.

March 2003

I just heard that PC will be at WisCon in Madison Wisconsin, held over Memorial Day.

[Note: WisCon 27 - May 23-26, 2003

The world's only feminist science fiction convention, WisCon 27, will be held on Memorial Day weekend, May 23-26, 2003, at the Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Guests of Honor will be China Miéville and Carol Emshwiller. WisCon 27 will gather together many writers, editors, publishers, scholars, artists, women, and men from around the world to discuss science fiction and fantasy, with emphasis on issues of feminism, gender, race and class.]

January 2003

Regarding the fourth novel: PC has completed good first drafts of the first two chapters. She is working on the third. I'm assuming that PC's fans understand that she is a slow writer. She is hoping to finish this in a year or so. Melinda.

Yes, PC should be at Torcon. Melinda.

[Note: TORCON - The 61st World Science Fiction Convention - Toronto Canada August 28-September 1, 2003]

December 2002

Re: gothic, yes, there's a definite influence. For that matter, I understand that PC is hoping to lead a literary study tour to England in the spring titled "Gothic: In the Footsteps of Monsters." Dracula, Jekyll & Hyde, Hound of the Baskervilles ­ that lot and more. There¹s some info on it on the UWO website, with more pending.

August 2002

The Meisha Merlin offices will be closed August 26 through September 10 for World Con and related business. We will be monitoring the message boards as often as possible during that time.

Re: Ship date for Blood and Ivory?

Almost -- we'll have a couple of cases of the soft cover at World Con (Aug 28 - Sept 2, San Jose), and then the full shipment (hard and soft covers) will be here and ready to ship out the beginning of September!

Thanks for asking...this is actually something I was going to put on here today.

Alan (Meisha Merlin)

[follow-up query snipped]

... Actually, the books have not shipped from the printer at all. We'll be getting just a few boxes in time to load the van for the convention.

Alan (Meisha Merlin)

June 2002

Blood and Ivory Excerpt up

The link is http://meishamerlin.com/BloodandIvoryExcerpt.html

It's from a story called "Hearts of Woven Shadow," and it's very, very intriguing. It provides backstory that looks like it's going to be highly relevant to the future kencyr books, so there's another reason to order Blood and Ivory. There are more than enough tantalizing tidbits of information in the excerpt to keep us all happily speculating until the book comes out. :)

Oh, I almost forgot. The latest news section of the Meisha Merlin website also has this info: "Good news for P. C. Hodgell fans! We recieved the final story that will be included in Blood and Ivory: A Tapestry this morning, called "Among the Dead." This rather disturbing story answers one of the long-standing questions about Jame's past."

[Spoilers snipped]

May 2002

I'm not sure about local midewestern conventions, but I know for sure that Pat will be at Worldcon in San Jose.

From: Melinda Hutson 14 May 2002

Regarding P.C.s visit to Worlcon/San Jose. She and I will be driving down from Portland OR, and will be doing a liesurely drive back from the convention along the coast. She said she wasn't up to the work involved in setting up readings/signings at bookstores along the way, but wouldn't object if someone else did. So if you know of a bookstore between San Jose and Portland that would like PC to stop by sometime during the week or so after Worldcon, let me know.

[Note: ConJose - the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San José 28th Aug - 2 Sep 2002. PC is listed to take part in the writer's workshop.]

April 2002

Hi guys: Meisha Merlin is printing/reprinting Blood and Ivory (a collection of short stories) this summer. I gather that in addition to the original four Jame sories, this expanded book will have three new Jame stories and the Sherlock Holmes short story that PC wrote. Two of the new Jame stories (tentatively entitled "Lost Knots" and "Hearts of Woven Shadow") are already with Meisha Merlin. The third is still being written. I thought I'd give you the opening paragraph of Hearts of Woven Shadow.

Gothregor, 2983

It was the sixth night of summer, and the moon was dark. High over the Riverland, wisps of cloud blew confusedly this way and that, making the stars flicker. Mountains blotted out the sky to east and west, but the hunched, gathering darkness to the north was far more profound, and ominous. Gothregor's forecourt lay in deep shadow. Across it, however, the gallery windows of the Women's Halls flared briefly with wary light and flickered with shadows. No one slept. The fortress waited and watched as it had night after night after night.
"Dead!" cried a muffled voice. Stone ground on stone as if the very walls shrank from that terrible cry. "Dead, dead, dead!"

Aug 2001

Got the following message from Pat:
"It looks as if MM is going to reprint Blood and Ivory, but I'd like to add some material to it. Not necessarily full stories -- dunno if my brain is up to that -- but maybe episodes or scenes."

From: Damien Sullivan <phoenix@UGCS.CALTECH.EDU>, Worldcon notes

So, at Worldcon, David Brukman kindly arranged and paid for dinner with Pat and Melinda. Which was very fun and interesting. Then, of course, we came home and apparently both failed to write anything up. Sorry, guys...

But I'd promised Pat a writeup of my Builder conspiracy theory (the "Down in Flames" scenario, a la Niven's pre-Ringworld outline. Maybe I should call it "Down in Shadows".) I thought I already _had_ written it up properly -- I know I've babbled about it before -- but I just find a couple of things which could probably use some polishing. But here are the urls, for Melinda to pass on:

• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kencyr/message/465 and my older rasfw posts
• http://www.ugcs.net/~phoenix/kencyr/hoax.txt
• http://www.ugcs.net/~phoenix/kencyr/short_hoax.txt

BTW, Pat said it was a very interesting idea, and might make a nice conspiracy theory for Kencyr to believe in. So I gather I didn't hit upon the real nature of her universe.

I see the first url contains the idea of a 2nd Kencyrath, working its way up the Chain in the other direction from Perimal's breach. That's actually independent of the hoax idea; it just makes sense on its own, unless PD came in at the end.

I don't think my Dark Kenshold idea was ever written up anywhere, I still need to do that.

Oh, I do remember one thing from dinner: among the four of us we had up to three different ways of pronouncing the names, and in the absence of my talking directly to Pat I may stick with my own versions. In particular Pat pronounces Gerridon with a soft 'G', at which point I said we could start calling the Tyr-ridan "Gerri's kids".

From David Brukman <dbrukman@sprynet.com> Worldcon Progress Report

Just a couple of snippets:

Stephen Pagel (MeishaMerlin) says P.C. Hodgell is contracted to write Jame 4. She asked for 2.5 years, so it should be out (he thinks) 2004-2005.

Pat says that she has quite a few notes for Jame 4, written over the past year. If all goes well (fingers crossed), her writing speed should improve.

The "post-Ivanhoe" novel--or its first chapters--are being reviewed by a major SF publisher. More fingers crossed.

P.S. Hodgell books from Meisha Merlin are quite popular at the dealer room. Goodie!

There should be a compilation of short stories, including a couple of new ones from MM in 2002: Spring or Summer. P.C. has some pretty good ideas of what stories she wants to write, but they haven't been written yet.

P.C. has read a scene from her "post-Ivanhoe" novel.
She is trying to break it up into three parts. The tentative name for the series is "The Lionhearts". The books to be named
_King Under the Hill_,
_King of the Hall_, and
_King of the Wood_.

Currently, the proposed trilogy is being reviewed by Ace.

June 2001

Seeker's Mask was not originally intended to be a stand-alone novel. It was supposed to be the first part of the "Jame goes to the Citadel" novel, but it grew and grew and grew and grew.

Jan 2001

[Contracts]
We are signing new contracts for a fourth Jame book from P. C. Hodgell, a new set of adventures in the Liaden Universe from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and also to reprint the first three and then print the fourth title in Diane Duane's Tale of the Five series. Upcoming, we have a short story collection from Pam Sargent, the first two titles and a new third title in William Mark Simmons' Dream series, and have started on our reprint of Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series.

Oct 2000

Okay, I've been debating tossing the URL for a fanfic series I've written out to the list for a while now, and I've finally decided what the hell... the worst that can happen is you all will decide I'm warped and demented. *g* The problem being I write slash... specifically, fanfic involving m/m relationships. Nothing graphic, certainly not pure smut, but still offensive to some people. So if you're brave, not easily offended, or just generally open minded, check out the series "Shattered Illusions~ from the Worlds of PC Hodgell" at http://www.geocities.com/sithkitten/archive.html. Feedback welcome and appreciated- especially *constructive* criticism. Flames- cheerfully ignored. Do heed the warnings- I may not write graphic smut, but nothing on that site is intended for young eyes.

September 2000

At a panel last night on Minor Characters [at Worldcon], our esteemed and glorious author expressed her opinion that she wanted to go back to Tai-tastigon and write the story of what had been happening with Patches.

July 2000

Please note that there has been a delay in getting Dark of the Gods published. We were about a week late in getting it to the printer. When the cover proof came back from the printer there had been a printing error on the cover, and that delayed it again. The next cover proof had the color off by quite a degree, so for a third time we had to delay the print date. This final proof was perfect.

The soft covers are due to be shipped by early August. The hardcovers will ship in late August, as the binder had a problem with one of their machines and are thus behind. We are sorry that the hardcovers will be so late and felt that we could not hold the soft covers while waiting for them.

P. C. Hodgell will be attending the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. We will see her then and she will sign the hardcovers at that time. As soon as we get back they will go out Priority Mail.

Again, sorry for this delay. We here at Meisha Merlin wish to thank you for your understanding and patience with these delays. We wanted to make sure that you got the best possible product that we could deliver.

Stephen Pagel
Meisha Merlin

From: phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu (Damien Raphael Sullivan) 29 Jul 2000 on rec.arts.sf.written

>>Some writers have what I call "The Gift of Naming" and others don't.

>I'd put her firmly on the "got it" list, myself.

Definitely. She's great. Even if they do often sound Tolkienish. (She said the '-iel' suffix was taken directly from Hebrew by both authors. She never gave a real world source for 'Kencyrath' has a plural, or 'Rathilien'.)

I think 'Perimal Darkling' takes the cake myself -- "all surrounding evil" Darkling. And it sounds good. But it's hard to choose.

-xx- Damien X-)

A discussion in Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

From: J Greely <jgreely@corp.webtv.net> 27 Jul 2000

efthomp@attglobal.net writes:
>?? The only books I've ever seen from Atheneum were YA/juveniles.

It may simply have been a case where they tightened up their standards on what qualified. It *has* been fifteen years, and I don't happen to have anything else handy that they put out in that period.

>Including the Kencyrath, which certainly ended up in the kids' >section of the local public libraries.

The paperbacks landed in the normal F/SF section, and I don't think I've ever seen either edition filed YA in a used bookstore.

>I thought she was drifting with SM, to be honest.

I think it was too ambitious for a single book, so parts feel a bit rushed, but I'd say that everything that did happen should have happened.

>With the end of DotM I thought she had all the ingredients to bring >the Tyr-Ridian on and swoosh to a grand climax.

Judging from the stories in "Blood and Ivory", some of which may no longer be canonical, this was never the plan. Indeed, if you consider the likely identities of the Tyr-ridan, it's pretty clear that they're not ready to believe it yet, nor have they reached the sort of crisis point where they would all be together and willing to open themselves to the appropriate outside influences. Two of them are in denial of different sorts, and all three are weirdness magnets of the first degree, something that tends to distract them from their destiny.

>SEEKER'S MASK was simply more adventures of Jamie. Which is ok, but >I didn't get the sense of the overall story moving along.

I'd say that it's more that the rules of the game changed significantly, so that our earlier understanding of the "goal" is no longer entirely correct. Consider the casual revelation about the nature of the relationship between The Three-Faced God and Perimal Darkling, and the source of that knowledge.

>If #4, whenever it comes out continues to be 'more adventures' I'll >probably lose interest in Hodgell.

From what she said about it several years ago, the story focuses on her Randir training, but I don't know if she stays there from start to finish or if it's merely the starting point, as the Woman's World was in Seeker.

-j

From: phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu (Damien Raphael Sullivan) 30 Jul 2000

J Greely <jgreely@corp.webtv.net> wrote:

>Judging from the stories in "Blood and Ivory", some of which may no
>longer be canonical, this was never the plan. Indeed, if you consider

Good point. (Story, really.)

>the likely identities of the Tyr-ridan, it's pretty clear that they're

Reportedly confirmed ex cathedra; there's an oracle on the kencyr@egroups list. Not that I needed much confirmation, I thought the poor buggers were outlined in neon.

>to the appropriate outside influences. Two of them are in denial of
>different sorts, and all three are weirdness magnets of the first
>degree, something that tends to distract them from their destiny.

Spoilers

Torisen's denying he's a Shanir. Kindrie knows he's Shanir and doesn't have a clue about Tyr-ridanness. I wouldn't say Jame's in denial; I think more that she doesn't know what to make of the God-Voice's pronouncement. It didn't make Immalai cower in awe, after all, although I've wondered if that memory was shielded from him. She's not the type to let rank go to her head, though, so I think she's just ignoring the idea until it becomes significant.

Certainly we haven't seen her think about who the other Tyr-ridan might be. But no one has the perspective on Torisen we have.

It is odd that she hasn't thought more about the whole issue, given how much thought she casually gives to Tai-Tastigon gods, dead Builders, and Jaran rhymes. So I guess she is in a sort of denial, not in the sense of actively suppressing observed facts like Ganth and Torisen but in not inquiring into the area, since she normally inquires as to everything.

Kindrie seems to be more of an abuse magnet than a weirdness magnet like the other two. Try to hurt Torisen, and miss creatively. Try to hurt Kindrie, succeed, and watch him heal. Try to hurt Jamethiel Apologizer... oops, bad idea, watch the karma make a tight round trip.

>longer entirely correct. Consider the casual revelation about the
>nature of the relationship between The Three-Faced God and Perimal
>Darkling, and the source of that knowledge.

Do we actually know anything more? We have a different story from Cattila (that's what you meant, right, about TFG make the CoC out of PD?) That gives us two stories. Both could be wrong.

>From what she said about it several years ago, the story focuses on
>her Randir training, but I don't know if she stays there from start to

randon, not Randir.

I just hope PCH breaks her timing trend. GS took a over a year of story time, DotM took a month, and SM took a week. At this rate the next one would be like Dubliners: _A Day in the Life of the Citadel_, from Jame rising one morning to the walls collapsing that night...

-xx- Damien X-)

From: J Greely <jgreely@corp.webtv.net> 30 Jul 2000

phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu (Damien Raphael Sullivan) writes:

>Torisen's denying he's a Shanir. Kindrie knows he's Shanir and doesn't have a
>clue about Tyr-ridanness. I wouldn't say Jame's in denial;

Kindrie's the other one I was thinking of in terms of denial. He has a great deal of trouble dealing with both his powers and his heredity.

Jame's problem isn't denial. If anything, she's managed to stumble over and accept more truths than anyone in the history of the Kencyrath. Most of those truths have had strings attached, and *that's* what keeps her from settling down and attacking the central problem of her people's destiny.

>I think more that she doesn't know what to make of the God-Voice's
>pronouncement.

Although she's starting to suspect that it's at least partially a scam, and not necessarily something to trust blindly.

>Certainly we haven't seen her think about who the other Tyr-ridan might be.

Rathillien keeps finding ways to distract her. Wonder why...

>Kindrie seems to be more of an abuse magnet than a weirdness magnet
>like the other two.

Only, I think, because we've mostly seen him being acted upon. Jame briefly held the same role at the beginning of Seeker, before the carefully-laid plans of the Women's World unravelled.

"I'd come to think that my house had first claim to any situation this absurd."

>Do we actually know anything more? We have a different story from
>Cattila (that's what you meant, right, about TFG make the CoC out of
>PD?) That gives us two stories. Both could be wrong.

Considering the company she keeps, I'm inclined to grant her story considerably greater credibility than the "standard party line". Among other things, it fits in with the general trend towards revealing that the official history of the Kencyrath is a pack of lies, and honor would never permit Jame to knowingly serve a lie. Considering how much damage she caused in Tai-Tastigon with her idle attempts to uncover the secret of the gods, a sustained assault on the underpinnings of her society could devastate Rathillien. This might explain why the local powers are so interested in her.

>randon, not Randir.

One of those times where I winged it without looking it up (I was of course thinking of the randon-trained Randir Heir, and the possibilities of fitting him into the next story). It's obviously been too long since I read them all. Must start again immediately.

>I just hope PCH breaks her timing trend. GS took a over a year of story time,
>DotM took a month, and SM took a week.

The impression I got was that it covered at least months, although some of that may be glossed over.

-j

From: Jon A. Wagnon <wagnon@SLU.EDU> 09 Jul 2000

I was just over at Amazon.com and they have the "Dark of the Gods" hardback discounted from $40 to $28. The status of it is that is not yet published, but you can advance order it (which I did) and they'll ship it as soon as it is available. The Meisha Merlin Publishing website says that they will ship the hardbacks in August 2000.

[Thanks Jon, see below]

June 2000

Just thought I'd let you know what's up. P.C.'s father died recently and her mother's health started to fail. Between dealing with her father's estate (she is an only child) and taking her mother to numerous doctors, P.C. has had no time to work on anything for several months. The first two books should be out this month in a combined volume from Meisha Merlin. The third book should follow. The fourth book is a long way from being done.

Feb 2000

From the Meisha Merlin website:

ChiCon, August 31-September 4, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Meisha Merlin will be doing panels and will be in the dealer's room.
Author autographings include P.C. Hodgell for the premiere of Dark of the Gods.

From: Shelby Flint <alphadog@nearmiss.com> 18 Feb 2000

In response to the question about the short story...I've heard that pch published a short story, can't remember the title, in a young adult fantasy anthology edited by Robin McKinley, titled Imaginary Lands. I've searched for that book; amazon.com tells me the publisher's out of stock.

There was also a book that I saw at a Borders some time ago; it featured photographs and short biographies on a number of fantasy authors - pch was featured - which was how I realized she was still alive and writing (my greatest fear was that she'd passed away while working on her dissertation and we'd never hear about Jame's life beyond her reunion with Tori.) Anyway, I think that biography mentioned the title of the short story.