Monday Miscellany

This can’t last, and it would kill my image if it did, but I’m actually pretty upbeat today. Teasing in comments will be tolerated only marginally. Proceed with caution.

First of all, the earliest professional responses to River of Stars have been wonderful. There are some colleagues whose judgement I wait for, and those are starting to come in. It isn’t just enthusiasm or excitement a writer hopes for, it is – always – smart, insightful reading. People getting aspects of what one is after in a given book. Because I’m not prolific, each reappearance feels as if it weighs more, matters more, I guess. And if any author tells you they are used to the period of awaiting initial responses … well, raise an eyebrow or two on my behalf.

I had thought I might release the UK cover for the Advance ReadingCopy (their ARC) this afternoon but I want to wait a day or two to confirm they see this as final for the ARC. I am pretty sure it is, and I like it a lot. Very different approach, also very much an ARC – which is to say, not a finished look yet, more like ‘notes towards a final book’ – but it works for me. It could even change before it is final but this is a good look. I am aware this is teasing a bit. Will post soon.

Another half-tease … Penguin Canada are close to the formal announcement of the auction they do each book. They auction the first book off the press, certified as such, and signed by me to that effect. This will be the fourth time, as best I recall. The proceeds go to Indigo’s “Love of Reading” charity, and I am a true believer in the idea that literacy empowers people. This announcement should go out within a day or two. I’ll post it here, too.

I also just received by courier this afternoon the cover ‘flat’ for the book. The actual cover. This isn’t a tease -those who wanted to have seen the full cover in various places by now. But there is something special about the real thing for me, and there will be another kick when I get my author copies of the whole book in a week or two (unless they are, for those who remember the story I love to tell, copies of A History of World Whaling).

So, various reasons for a brief withdrawal from Chronic Curmudgeon Mode. Fear not, normal demeanour is likely to return shortly. (All I have to do is think about Curtis Granderson’s broken arm from yesterday…)

4 thoughts on “Monday Miscellany

  1. Typos are unlikely to elicit needling from me – I make too many myself. Yankee fandom (I come by it honestly, my wonderful father was a Yankee fan going back to Ruth, Gehrig, Bill Dickey, through Dimaggio…) is a tricky matter. Suspect I could even lose readers with the admission of affiliation to the Evil Empire (TM) It IS trademarked now, by the way. Google it. Strangeness.

    But if we are not loyal to our roots…?

    Having said that, Jays are likely to be very exciting this year, and Toronto may turn into a baseball town of sorts again. Only ‘of sorts’ – this is the ultimate hockey city.

  2. My first extended baseball exposure was the Yankees 1996 playoff run to the title over the Braves.
    Up until then my favourite player through limited exposure was Albert Belle. He was prodigious and he was ornery, then he showed signs of being a choker… confirmed it with the White Sox……must’ve been all that signing bonus money sticking to the dry roof……

    But I digress. I watched the Yankees beat – from memory – the Orioles and the Rangers ? At the time I was playing a season of Hardball 3 on my PC and the star player on my team was one C.Fielder. Not being a dedicated fan, I just thought it was a play on words by the smartass game designers and kept waiting for his younger brothers R & L to be drafted into the team.

    Then I saw Cecil Fielder play live and how he could swing through the high heat from ANYBODY……Man I wish I had seen him play in his prime!

    I saw 2 others for the first time as well. Promising new products from the roots of the Yankee family…..came up within the system commentators said, no Steinbrenner gazillions paid for them. Names of Jeter and Rivera.

    I still remember their coltish confidence, maturing to dependable excellence as game followed game in each successive series. I remember how coolly Joe Torre would insert Rivera like a surgeon to expose the last threads of resistance…..just so they could be burnt out of existence by the flame-throwing John Wettland.

    There was the future and it was well scouted and homegrown. You could have your Wade Boggs and Tino Martinez. You could even keep Big Daddy even though fate made him my entry point to Yankees fandom.
    You could even keep random Australian and my countryman Graeme Lloyd.

    I wanted Derek and Mariano. They were my players yesterday and have been ever since. I see no analogous players now, only mercenaries. Where are my players today?

    I don’t blame the players, just the lazy backoffice that forgot how to build a team and mindlessly propagate the Evil Empire myth.

    Rant over…..exhausting & liberating both. Sorry for taking such advantage.

    George

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