Hello all,

Were you thinking you might never hear from me again? It's been more than a while - a year, in fact, since I wrote the last edition of Warp & Weft. I'll gloss over the apologies to move straight into the fact that while the newsletter may have been absent, that's not to say there hasn't been a great deal of activity, and lots of new stuff, on Bright Weavings itself. So this is going to be a mammoth edition, as I'll be telling you about everything that's been added to the site over the past year.

GGK News
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> Awards

The Last Light of the Sun was a finalist in the Canadian Sunburst Award of 2005, and The Lions of Al-Rassan was a finalist for the Israeli Geffen award for best translated work of fantasy. Last Light also appeared on readersread.com's list of the best books of 2004.

> New editions and translations

The Last Light of the Sun is now available in paperback in all the major English speaking countries. Translation deals have been made with the following countries: Israel, Sweden, Germany, France, Greece, Croatia, Russia, French Canada, and Poland. The UK is reissuing The Fionavar Tapestry with Martin Springett's original covers, to mark the 20th anniversary of publication. There's a little tidbit about that in the news section of the site, and the full wrap covers can be seen in the art gallery.

For more details, visit the news page: http://www.brightweavings.com/news/index.htm

GGK Readings
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> California

GGK will be in California on the 10th and 11th of February. On Friday the 10th, at 7pm, he will be reading, signing, and chatting over wine at Bay Books, 316 Alvarado St, Monterey, and on the 11th, he will be speaking and signing at Barnes & Noble in Oakland, again at 7 pm. Address is 98 Broadway. Phone: (510) 272-0120.

> Montreal

GGK will be attending the Boreal Convention in Montreal in May 2006 as guest of honour. More details nearer the time will be posted on the readings page of Bright Weavings.

What's New on Bright Weavings
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> Reviews

In the past year we've built up an entirely new page in the reviews section of the site, for obvious reasons. We have reviews of The Last Light of the Sun from many sources - Emerald City ezine, Challenging Destiny ezine, The Edmonton Journal, The Washington Post and the Toronto Star. We even have a couple in French - from the Quebec Sun and Le Devoir.

To read them, simply visit the reviews page:
http://www.brightweavings.com/reviews/revlastlight.htm

> Art Gallery

We've got plenty of new covers gracing the site. Including, but not limited to, a Danish Fionavar omnibus, the UK reissue of the Fionavar trilogy, various editions of Last Light, French covers for The Sarantine Mosaic, and a Polish cover for Lord of Emperors. We also have some additions to the reader art section of the art gallery:

Danish Fionavar omnibus: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/covfionavar.htm#perkofod

UK Reissue of Fionavar: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/covfionavar.htm#ukreissue

Last Light, including Canadian trade paperback, UK paperback, and Alire's Quebec edition: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/covlastlight.htm

French covers for the Mosaic: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/covsarantium.htm#france

Polish covers for the Mosaic: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/covsarantium.htm#poland

David Dang's portrait of Lancelot fighting Curdadh: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/lancelot.htm

Myaah's presentation of Jaelle: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/jaelle.htm

> Scholarship

Over the past year, I've added three pieces to the scholarship section of the site, all fascinating explorations of GGK's work.

Joyce Gutenshohn wrote her MA thesis on "Songs in the Blood: The Discourse of Music in Three Canadian Novels. The three novels of the title are Tigana, Robertson Davies' A Mixture of Frailties and Timothy Findley's The Piano Man's Daughter. Only the middle chapter, on Tigana, is included on the site, together with the introduction and conclusion. You can read it here:
http://www.brightweavings.com/scholarship/tiganamusic.htm

Amy Yeong Xiao Hui wrote an undergraduate thesis on 'myth in fantasy', submitted as part of her BA in English Literature at the University of Singapore. She explores this idea via The Fionavar Tapestry. With chapters titled "The Importance of Structure in Fantasy", "Kay's Treatment of Archetypes" (one subheading, as an example, gives us: "Kevin and Jennifer: Subverting the "Blonde Bimbo" Stereotype") and "The Structuring Aspect of Myth in The Fionavar Tapestry" this is a really good read... and you can read it here:
http://www.brightweavings.com/scholarship/mythinfantasy.htm

In 1998, a leatherbound edition of Tigana was published as part of a series of 'masterpieces of fantasy' by Easton Press. Professor James Gunn wrote a brief introduction to the volume, called 'The Other Side of the Mirror' which we now have on the site. You can read it here:
http://www.brightweavings.com/scholarship/eastonpress.htm

> Music

In March of last year, Martin Springett released a CD of GGK inspired music, called, appropriately enough, Bright Weaving. Two of the tracks from the CD were already available to listen to in the music section of the site. If you go to our page on the CD, here: http://www.brightweavings.com/music/springett.htm then not only can you find out the titles of the various tracks, you will also find links to a review of the CD by Bright Weavings denizen Francois Vincent, and an essay by Martin himself on the genesis of the music.

> Interviews

I've added a number of interviews to the site over the past year. Here's the list:

Interview for Deep Magic Ezine. With questions about how GGK's first book was published, how the internet has affected his relationship with readers and publishers, whether he has any favourite characters, and more... http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/deepmagic.htm

Interview for Rambles Magazine. With questions about whether GGK would do something different if he was writing Fionavar now, what the famous 'middle book of a trilogy' problem is, how important historical accuracy is in fiction... http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/rambles.htm

Interview with the Historical Novels Review. With discussion of GGK's writing influences, and of why he chooses to write historical fantasy rather than straight historical fiction... http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/paralleluniverses.htm

Radio interview with James O'Hearn at CHRY Radio in Toronto. Audio interview focusing mainly on GGK's poetry; why he did not publish any of it until Beyond this Dark House, how it is different writing poetry and prose, how GGK went about arranging the structure of the book of poetry.... This is an mp3 link, so it will take a while to download to your computer. Be patient, it's worth it! http://www.engagingtheword.net/guygavrielkay.mp3

> Fun stuff

No Warp & Weft could be complete without telling you about an addition to the fun stuff section of the site. Our very own denizen, Alec Lynch, created a GGK Jeopardy game that he graciously gave me for the site. It's a powerpoint file, so be patient while it downloads. Just go to http://www.brightweavings.com/funstuff/index.htm and you'll find the link for it at the bottom of the page.

In the Forums
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> A Clerihew Competition: Entries and Winners

You really can blame GGK for this; it was his idea. Do you know what clerihews are? After the limerick competition of 2004 (I think), GGK decided to introduce the denizens of the forums to a new poetic form. A clerihew is a funny poem written about a specific person. It has to be four lines long, and the first line is the name of the person the clerihew is about. The first and second lines must rhyme with each other, as must the third and fourth. It was decided that the clerihews, would, of course, be about characters from GGK's books. I have to say, there are some very intelligent and very funny denizens on Bright Weavings. The competition is over, for any of you thinking of participating, and there ended up being three winners, but all the entries are worth a read. In fact, when I get a moment, I'll create a new page in the fun stuff section of the site for the clerihews. But for now, I'll direct you to the thread where you can read all the entries, the discussion of them, the judgement, the winners...
http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/2/142636.html?1136060623

> Guycon/Debcon 2005

I called it Guycon. Guy called it Debcon. The author wins, clearly, so Debcon it became. In December '05, I paid a short but exceptionally sweet visit to Toronto, and in honour of such, a gathering of various denizens was held, together with our esteemed author. I thought I'd link to the thread in the forums that discussed this visit, primarily because there are some fantastic poems written by denizens - particularly Simon and Alec - about the weekend, which are absolutely hilarious, as well as some write-ups of the trip by the others involved, and even a link to some photos. Again, when I get some time maybe I'll create a new section in fun stuff for 'denizen meet ups'. I had a fabulous time, and only wish it could have been longer. Here's the thread:
http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/182/142641.html?1136949205

> Honesty and Ethics in Literature

This has got to be the most interesting discussion going on in the forums at the moment. Inspired by the revelations of the fictionalisation of much of the content of James Frey's 'memoir', a discussion has been going on for quite some time now on the ideas of honesty and ethics in literature, covering the concepts of 'truth', what an author owes his or her readers when writing a memoir, and going on to encompass ideas of privacy in today's society, the use of real people in fiction, etc. Lots of cogent discussion of some very interesting and topical ideas:
http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/182/142688.html?1138966231

And that's it, from me, for now. No guarantees as to when the next newsletter will appear; it'll depend on how much new stuff gets added to the site, and of course, how much time I get :-)

Oh, and if you didn't know, GGK is hard at work at his latest novel, and I believe (but don't quote me on this, it's not guaranteed) that it will be forthcoming sometime early next year.

Till next time,

Happy reading,

Deborah