sraun: portrait (Default)
According to a thread on Baen's Bar, there should be an eARC, and there is going to be a Bujold Baen CD! See the thread "Cryoburn eARC planned?" in the conference Toni's Table for more particulars (of which there isn't much).
sraun: Sheep Head - used for memes (meme)
[livejournal.com profile] azurelunatic associates Bujold, the IT industry, dogs, family, and The Frozen North with me.

Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold, most well-known for her Vorkosiverse books. I've been a fan of her's since Joel H. talked me into reading The Warrior's Apprentice within a couple of years of it coming out - I got to read it, Shards of Honor and Ethan of Athos very quickly. And I've been devouring anything new by her ever since. This one of my two on-line fandoms (the other is the Liaden Universe), and I've been hosting in-person get-togethers ever since [livejournal.com profile] norabombay came to Minneapolis to look into maybe coming up for school.

The IT industry
I've been doing computer support as my job since June 1990. I've done it for a professional engineering firm, an IT hardware company, the Federal Reserve, a manufacturing company, and a non-bank money services company. I try to keep track at least superficially of what's going on the industry as a whole. I've done a lot of stuff - maybe just about anything - that involves x86 hardware. I've been running a Debian/Linux system since January 2000 at home that serves the domains fireopal.org & ytilaer.com, with e-mail, web, ssh & mailing list services. I want to get into a server/network admin role - my next step on that goal is getting an RHCE certification.

Dogs
I'm a dog person. I grew up with chihuahuas. As much as I like chihuahuas, I won't buy one - they're too territorial for my life-style, we'd drive each other nuts. My first significant purchase after I bought my house was a dog - that was Ben, my first Shih Tzu. I've had three Shih Tzu's die on me - Ben had a car accident, Chela died of old age, and Gizmo's liver started eating his red blood cells. I've currently got Mac (Macguyver), a prize-winning former show dog, Josie, who is half-Shih Tzu/half unknown terrier, and Precious, a former puppy-mill mom who is all [livejournal.com profile] carbonel's fault.

Family
Wife, Mom, Dad, "The Evil Step-Mother", brother, sister-in-law, three nieces, three step-sisters, two step-brothers (TESM's kids - I've only seen two of the step-sisters and neither of the step-brothers in the last 10+ years), mother-in-law, two step-daughters, one step-son, two sons-in-law, three grand-kids, and a host of relatives of my wife. The step-kids each had one kid - the boy had a boy, the two girls had girls. My brother's in Iraq driving a semi for an obscene amount of money. Dad & TESM are currently living on the road. Mom lives in Duluth. The step-brothers/sisters live in Duluth, Duluth, North Carolina, Oregon & Missouri. Wife's brothers & sisters mostly live in the Twin Cities - the one exception is out on the Left Coast. We get together with my wife's family more frequently than mine.

Oh, yeah - the family fast track. I went from single with no prospects to being a grand-father in 729 days. My first date with [livejournal.com profile] iraunink was 5 April 2000. We got married on 5 October 2000. The first grand-kid was born on 4 April 2002. If someone had told me on Valentine's Day 2000 that I'd be celebrating Valentine's Day 2001 with my wife, I would have told them they were nuts!

The Frozen North
I live in Minneapolis, MN. I moved to Duluth, MN to start first grade. I went to college at MTU, in Houghton, MI. The first year I was there the previous snowfall records were broken, possibly shatterd, by 300" inches of snow. There was a spot 20-30 miles north of Houghton that got 360" of snow - yes, 10 yards. I like my snow and cold, and complain bitterly about the summer heat. For that matter, I've been known to complain that we only get a real winter here in Minneapolis once every four or five years! If I were to move away from Minneapolis/St. Paul, the only likely place would be the Pacific Northwest - I'll trade the lack of snow in winter for the low summer highs.

I'll give a try at if I know you, you've just to ask and I'll come up with five things I associate with you. If I don't know you, I may amuse myself by picking five arbitrary things (or not).
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
I just finished an ARC of The Sharing Knife: Passage.

Lois did a wonderful job of taking a very small molehill from one of the earlier books, and sticking a mountain under it.

Lots of Dag & Fawn. Whit joins them, and grows up! Everyone learns stuff. I'd say this one is more on the fantasy side of the fantasy/romance cross-over, but I'm guessing there's enough romance to keep the romance fans interested.

There's some serious heart-wrenching in this one! Oh, that poor girl!

From what little time I've spent floating on a river (used to go out for weekend days on the Missouri when I visited my grand-parents), I'd say she got the rivers right!
sraun: portrait (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] dreamhaven (AKA Dreamhaven Books) has an LJ! I'm certain there are people on my Friends list who will be interested in this fact.
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
1) Dag was right - the Bluefields have nothing on his family!
2) I want Wide Green World now!

I wonder how spoilery I can get and not give away the plot? Probably quite...

Here there be spoilers! )
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
About mid-afternoon, I checked my home e-mail, and there was a message from my friendly pusher. She wanted to know if I wanted loan of an ARC.

Needless to say, I said yes.

Sometime tomorrow, I get to start reading The Sharing Knife: Legacy.

I'm not reading it tonight - I'm too tired.
sraun: sharing knife cover (bujold)
Long ago and far way, [livejournal.com profile] gryphons_lair arranged for James of the LMB List (AKA the Governor-General) to get a hat. I hosted the mailing list that was used to coordinate the event. After the hat was presented, and pictures were posted, and everything was wrapped up, I sent out a message to the list - 'the list will be shut down in about 30 minutes, after I see that this message has been sent to everyone'. About five minutes after that message went out, I'd deleted [livejournal.com profile] gryphons_lair, added James, and sent out 'OK, so who's interested in helping James return the favor?'

We spent several years going 'OK, what are we going to give her'. At Convergence this last summer, I saw this sculpture by Butch Honeck - it was a paper-weight / art piece - I looked at it, and asked if he'd be willing to make a door-knocker version of it. He said yes. I sent a picture (see copies of early pictures at http://www.fireopal.org/~sraun/grand_conspiracy/) to the list, and it was agreed that this was a wonderful idea! [livejournal.com profile] fairestcat confirmed that there were places to put it, so it was ordered, and I received it about three weeks ago.

Yesterday [livejournal.com profile] iraunink and I drove over to Stoughton, WI - I'd made prior arrangements with [livejournal.com profile] gryphons_lair to join her for dinner - the e-mail was, if I do say so myself, a masterpiece of mis-direction. I didn't tell a single untruth - I just didn't tell her that reason we were coming over was to deliver a present to her.

Here we have a very gleeful [livejournal.com profile] gryphons_lair - the picture links to more (and much bigger!) pictures on my web-site.
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
See http://carbonel.livejournal.com/47830.html

The Short Version: I am auctioning the galleys of Lois McMaster Bujold's upcoming novel The Sharing Knife: Legacy to benefit the John M. Ford Book Endowment, for the Minneapolis Public Library. Part 1, The Sharing Knife: Beguilement just came out in hardcover; the sequel won't be available until next spring.

This is a one-of-a-kind item, and the ONLY way to read the novel prior to its 2007 release. Opening bid is $100; bid increments of no less than $1, whole dollar increments only. Auction closes 11:59:59 pm Central, Friday, October 27. Please read the long version for more details and on how to bid.


The Long Version indicates that the auction is sanctioned by Lois, and she will personalize it if desired.
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
A number of people on my friends list have almost certainly already posted this, but just in case you haven't seen it yet...

Quoting Lois McMaster Bujold:

...Is that enough acronyms for everyone?

For the opening week of sales, _The Sharing Knife, vol. 1: Beguilement_ has appeared at #28 on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller extended list. This is the list that will appear, eventually, dated 10/29 and covering sales the week ending Oct. 14, so this is advance word. (The list currently up on the Times website is for the sales week ending Oct. 7, and datelined Oct. 22, which I presume is the date it will appear in their paper edition.)

This is the kind of news one's excited editor calls one up and tells the writer personally, rather than sending a mere e-mail. Because it's a feather in her cap, as well -- and as well it should be.

But mostly, I want to thank you all, because for all the hopeful efforts at promotion a publisher may attempt, the real results are up to the readers. *You guys* did this, and I am very grateful.

The NYT extended list is a peculiar institution. I'd never even heard of it, despite having a writing career for a decade and a half when _A Civil Campaign_ first cracked it. My then-excited editor had to explain it all to me when she called. The Big List, as it's commonly dubbed, and which appears in bookstores, libraries, and newspapers all over the country for the sort of free publicity no money can buy, is everyone's gold ring. It covers the books ranked from 1 to 15. The extended list goes to 33. Until the era of websites, the only folks who saw this extension were the booksellers. Now, it was and is important there, because it gives them a heads-up which books to watch, but it doesn't supply that extra turbo-boost on the readers' side that cracking the top 15 does. But these days, the extended list is getting around more, and isn't quite so obscure.

Keep that sample chapter URL circulating:

Sample Chapters

Ta, L. (Chuffed!)
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
Not the best, but something!

You can take your pick of options here - the big pictures are 28nn x 21nn pixels. I'll try to get an index page up there soonish, but for now you can see the raw directory.

Here's the two thumbnails:

The Plaque

Lois in her chair

If you're ever in the Pohlad Auditorium at the Minneapolis Downtown Public Library, it's chair M8.

Busy Day

Oct. 14th, 2006 09:10 pm
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
Got up, got caught up with computer stuff. Did dishes, and some spot cleaning - the place was still mostly clean from last weekend.

After lunch, I ran off to the library to meet Lois - we got let into the auditorium, I got pictures of the plaque for her chair, and her sitting in it. I'll get them up tomorrow, I promise!

Then it was off to a friend's house to feed their cats.

After that, I went to Dreamhaven for the release event for The Sharing Knife: Beguilement. Lois read a scene from the next book - and there was much "more!" when she stopped reading (on a cliffhanger!) She had the original oil painting for the two covers with her - it's gorgeous!

After that, it was off to A Taste of India for dinner with Lois, [livejournal.com profile] pmrabble, [livejournal.com profile] gryphons_lair, Kathy M., and Kathy's friend (who's name I have just realized I missed). After dinner, all of us except Lois came to my house for dessert - chocolate fondue. It was much appreciated! After an hour and a half or so of conversation, we broke up.

[livejournal.com profile] iraunink came down and had a little fondue, and then went back upstairs.

All in all, a nice day. Pity [livejournal.com profile] iraunink is having a dead-due-to-migraine day.
sraun: sharing knife cover (sharing knife cover)
Here's a link to the first two chapters - http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061137587/The_Sharing_Knife_Volume_One/excerpt.aspx

It's a neat fantasy book - so says me, who read an ARC, and a bunch of other people. Please, go read!
sraun: portrait (Default)
Her Ladyship read the first two chapters of The Sharing Knife.

During the Q&A, she said that the next thing was not a Miles book, nor a Chalion. I inferred, and she didn't quite say 'yes' outright, that The Next Thing is going to be another book in the TSK universe. If so, it has no character overlap - their story is done, but there are more interesting stories to be told in that world.

Oh, release date of the first volume is currently October, with the second volume to be 6-9 months later.

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