Stuff and Nonsense

Jul. 2nd, 2011 at 11:12 AM

Just flipped over the page on my World Wildlife Fund calendar (a day late, sue me), and was amused to see that the featured animals for July are gorillas. Nothing could be more fitting for the month in which Kong is finally loosed upon the reading public. heh

On other fronts... I mentioned below that WARRIORS won the Locus Award as the best anthology of 2010, which pleased me no end... but I forgot to mention that Gardner Dozois and I have just signed with Tor for a sequel of sorts. A mammoth crossgenre book featuring contributions from an all-star lineup of award-winning writers and bestsellers from half a dozen different genres and subgenres. This one has the working title DANGEROUS WOMEN. Whether that will be the final title or not, I am less sure. Must admit, I do not love it; too generic for my taste. I wanted to call the book FEMMES FATALE, but our editor suggested that no one younger than forty would have any idea what that phrase meant. Which boggles the hell out of me, but what do I know? Could be we'll settle on WOMEN WARRIORS. Though that's limiting in a different sort of way. But whatever title it goes by in the end, it should be a helluva anthology. We have some great writers lined up, as we did with WARRIORS.

And yes, DANGEROUS WOMEN will include the fourth Dunk & Egg novella, the long-promised tale of their visit to the North, where they encounter the She-Wolves of Winterfell. I could tell you more than that, but then I'd need to kill you.

Meanwhile, Ice & Fire continues its slow conquest of the world, nation by nation and language by language. I've just signed a deal for Turkish editions, and we're negotiating with a Vietnamese publisher as well.

And my US book tour is coming up fast, so these days have been busy ones. At the moment I am finishing up the first draft of my script for the second season of the HBO series, hammering out the overplot of the new Wild Cards book LOWBALL, and of course doing what seems like ten interviews a day. Would that there were four of me.

These are exciting days.

Current Location:santa fe
Current Mood: busy

Comments

( 71 comments )

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rappy7

Jul. 2nd, 2011 05:37 pm (UTC)

Title

It seems your editor wants to cater to the "those who do not read" book audience. Everyone who's slightly educated knows that phrase. It's a great title, stick to your guns.

An intelligent title like that will actually attract the educated crowd, who comprise 100% of your REALISTIC audience.

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drewbie1

Jul. 2nd, 2011 05:47 pm (UTC)

Femmes Fatale

I'd just like to say that this 26 year old knows what a femme fatale is. The editor is mistaken.

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ravenslolita

Jul. 2nd, 2011 08:46 pm (UTC)

Re: Femmes Fatale

This 26 year old does as well... I'm pretty sure anyone who has ever watched film noir if nothing else does.

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mopsie2002 - Jul. 8th, 2011 12:30 am (UTC) - Expand

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chaeri - Jul. 3rd, 2011 12:43 am (UTC) - Expand

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chaeri - Jul. 3rd, 2011 12:44 am (UTC) - Expand

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twistedsheets10 - Jul. 3rd, 2011 12:45 am (UTC) - Expand

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mafidufa - Jul. 3rd, 2011 04:02 pm (UTC) - Expand

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flameraven - Jul. 4th, 2011 04:04 pm (UTC) - Expand

snowpuss

Jul. 2nd, 2011 05:50 pm (UTC)

I am 25 and I know exactly what a femme fatale is, so I think your publisher needs to be able to back that up a little better. Cuz Femme Fatale is a way better title than Dangerous Women.
Also I will totally get this because I love me some strong sassy ladies who will cut you.

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reynardine

Jul. 2nd, 2011 05:51 pm (UTC)

Yay for the She-Wolves! Can't wait to read that one. I love all the Dunk and Egg stories so far.

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murcushio

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:56 pm (UTC)

She-Wolves of Winterfell, eh? Hmm. Dunk and Egg are about eighty-ninety years back, so...

"Your father's father had no siblings, but his father had a sister who married a younger son of Lord Raymar Royce, of the junior branch. They had three daughters..."

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emil_miljkovic

Jul. 2nd, 2011 05:54 pm (UTC)

Ha! I know what the phrase means and I am 23. Also, most of young people I know understands the phrase too. It sounds better then Women Warriors anyway.

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rhaegar85

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:15 pm (UTC)

Femmes Fatale

26 year old here who knows what a femme fatale is, maybe if we leave enough comments here your editor will reconsider, send him/her my regards.

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sylphic61

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:15 pm (UTC)

What?!

I hope you stick with Femme Fatale - that editor is crazy!

Can't wait for more Dunk & Egg ... and Dance, of course, and GoT Season 2 (whatever they end up calling it)! These are exciting times, indeed. :D

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Noah Oskow

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:22 pm (UTC)

Just adding myself, at 22, to the list of people younger than 40 who think femme fatale is still a pretty commonly understood phrase, especially among people who, you know, read books.
Also beyond excited for a new Dunk and Egg tale. Getting to see Winterfell some 90 years in the past sounds pretty great to me.

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Kindazee

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:23 pm (UTC)

Just adding to the scores of other youngins here... I'm 25 and I know what a Femme Fatale is, as does any reasonably educated or experienced person.

I don't know whom your publisher thinks reads these books, but I don't think you should be catering to people that aren't well enough read to understand that title.

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coaldustcanary

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:29 pm (UTC)

While I absolutely know what a Femme Fatale is, I think Dangerous Women would be an awesome title. :D

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fadethecat

Jul. 2nd, 2011 10:30 pm (UTC)

Same here! I know what a Femme Fatale is, and if I saw a collection by that title, I'd assume it was about women who were only dangerous because of their sexy sexy sexiness about sex. "Dangerous Woman" sounds like something I'd actually want to read, because it implies there's a reason the women are dangerous beyond being the noir-style seductress.

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claro3 - Jul. 3rd, 2011 10:09 pm (UTC) - Expand

evamagick

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:35 pm (UTC)

Hehe, that's awesome.

And anyone who reads sci-fi/fantasy will know what femme fatale means. Don't play to the lowest common denominator, publishers. I'm excited to read this book!

I'm so thrilled that you are getting the praise and attention you deserve. I think you are one of the best writers ever and I'm glad the world is paying attention. :)

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xraytheenforcer

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:35 pm (UTC)

I think "Dangerous Women" sounds the most interesting simply because "dangerous" can mean so many different things, and thus it keeps your audience on its toes.

Good luck with the rest of the work you have to get done before heading off on the book tour.

Edited at 2011-07-02 06:38 pm (UTC)

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kajitochishio

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:42 pm (UTC)

I agree with sticking to your guns, I'm 28 and know exactly what it means - as do my 20 and 15 year old brothers, and 17 year old sister.

Hurray Dunk and Egg!

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rwahtorin

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:46 pm (UTC)

As a 20-year old I would personally slap anyone who doesn't know what "femme fatale" means.

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hippoiathanatoi

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:50 pm (UTC)

Ditto on FEMMES FATALE as a superior title to DANGEROUS WOMEN, but I'd rather have DANGEROUS WOMEN as a title than WOMEN WARRIORS; that one is much too limiting and prosaic.

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brudewollen

Jul. 2nd, 2011 06:57 pm (UTC)

All I want to know about is when Dunk & Egg get to Tarth. Well, that and Summerhall...

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dblasphemy

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:07 pm (UTC)

Dunk & Egg

Whatever you end up calling it (FEMMES FATALE works for me) I will be looking forward to more tales of Ser Duncan the Tall and his faithful squire. This is great news!

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jessaleigh1

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:09 pm (UTC)

I'm 20 and I know the phrase femmes fatale. Geez, publishers have no faith in the reader and their vocabulary. I want to shake my head at them, they should step out of the norm and have trust in the readers.

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thegelf

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:12 pm (UTC)

I'm another 20-something who knows what Femmes Fatale means.

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aulus_poliutos

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:14 pm (UTC)

OK, I'm older than forty so I won't count. ;) But the decision against Femmes Fatales sounds a bit like The Sorcerer's Stone (US edition) instead of The Philosopher's Stone (UK), which upset some kids who said they damn well knew what a philosopher is. ;)

BTW, is there any chance the Eggs may one day be put into one basket? A nice hardcover volume would look pretty besides my other ASOIAF books. Plus, my nephew has filched Warriors and forgotten to return it. *grin*

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hopnutjester

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:14 pm (UTC)

Femmes Fatale

How 'bout "GIRLS WHAT CAN KILL!"

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Martin Bennedik

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:19 pm (UTC)

Lethal Ladies?

How about "Lethal Ladies"?

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lahela_sga

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:32 pm (UTC)

I like Femmes Fatales best of those three (but I'm over 40, so I don't count! LOL!)... That said, as long as there's Dunk and Egg in it, I'm beyond happy and will buy it no matter what it's called. I'm curious, of course, about what else it will contain - I love good stories about strong women.

And I'd like to echo aulus_poliutos' call (above) for a volume with all the Dunk and Egg stories together. They are just wonderful and a perfect backstory to ASOIAF. *grin*

Oh, and bravo for supporting WWF. :)

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nycfalcon

Jul. 2nd, 2011 07:38 pm (UTC)

It's not only that many won't know what it means, they also will think it's one of those foreign books. Don't underestimate the lack of broad knowledge by the masses.

However, are entertainment tabloid readers the target audience? I would have guessed that most novel readers would know what a femme fatale is.

And, if you put a really sexy cover on it with the words Femme Fatale I'm certain you may even get some folks who will think it's purely about sex. Sex sells...

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tripleneck

Jul. 2nd, 2011 08:42 pm (UTC)

Dude, you gather no moss! I wish there were four of you, too. All writing. Then I could look forward to another seven book series after ASOIAF :) But, I'm really happy to hear about another anthology. I ate up Warriors and Songs of Love and Death and am looking forward to Down These Strange Streets.

I'd vote for Femmes Fatale as the next title.

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