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I think I've posted the news here before, but it deserves repeating so: My sister's book, T4, will be published on September 22nd, two days before her 39th birthday, hooray! No links to show off yet, like from Amazon.com or anything, though I think Borders has it listed without info, but we've noticed that Houghton Mifflin hasn't updated even their spring catalog so they wouldn't have done their fall yet either.
She's started--and in truth, has gone through it so quickly she's almost finished--with a sequel, The Signing Island. She's...not so encouraged anymore because both her fantasy, The Silent Census, and her picture book to help kids learn about sign language have been turned down by her publisher, but I think she has a much better chance this time. I keep telling her that and she won't entirely listen; she tells me, Yeah, well, you like it but T4 is the holocaust so that made it saleable, blah blah blah. But The Signing Island is American history--it's about Martha's Vineyard in the late 18th Century--it's about deaf history and it's a straightforward story quite like T4. I think it's what her editor was looking for from her as a follow-up.
I mean, let's use Gregory Maguire as an example, because she was just showing me personal pics she took of him and his partner Andy back when they were at an artist colony together and because he gave her a quote to put of the jacket of T4. So, Gregory is big juju with kids books already when Wicked is published, so we'll put those aside for the mo and focus on his adult books: As a follow-up to Wicked, he chose to do Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Now, I happen to know that he got a truly pitiable advance for the latter novel (my sister met him when he was working on a finalized draft of it) but he was able to sell it to them because it was essentially in style if not content a follow-up to Wicked. Would he have been able to sell his next book at all if it had been, say, a serious nonfiction account of, say, how the sandwich was invented? My guess: probably not.
As much as I loved my sister's other work, and I do believe she'll be able to sell The Silent Census once T4 is published, I really think The Signing Island is the follow-up they want from her. Plus, it's a pretty bitchin' book, and I've only read part of the initial draft. Then again, I do like the period in American history and it's something I knew nothing about, so she's right in saying that I would like it!
Let's see, what else has happened since I last updated. Well, Charlton Heston passed on, which I found amazingly sad, and not just 'cause my mom wasn't around to point out, once more, that they have to change his last name in Greece because, according to her, it means 'shit on you' in her native tongue. Mr. Heston, you provided me with hours upon hours of pure, shameless entertainment and some of the greatest movies ever made, especially for a sci-fi aficionado such as myself. You will be greatly missed, sir!
Oh, and most importantly, I missed big sistah's birthday, DOH! So,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lindsaygirl58, this one's for you:
( As always, an inappropriate but delightful birthday wish behind the cut! )
Peace, Ghani
ETA: Hopefully soon, I'll be able to put my thoughts for the new season of Doctor Who down to LJ. Yes, they are highly favorable, but then again, I've always been one of Donna's biggest fans so it's not entirely surprising!
She's started--and in truth, has gone through it so quickly she's almost finished--with a sequel, The Signing Island. She's...not so encouraged anymore because both her fantasy, The Silent Census, and her picture book to help kids learn about sign language have been turned down by her publisher, but I think she has a much better chance this time. I keep telling her that and she won't entirely listen; she tells me, Yeah, well, you like it but T4 is the holocaust so that made it saleable, blah blah blah. But The Signing Island is American history--it's about Martha's Vineyard in the late 18th Century--it's about deaf history and it's a straightforward story quite like T4. I think it's what her editor was looking for from her as a follow-up.
I mean, let's use Gregory Maguire as an example, because she was just showing me personal pics she took of him and his partner Andy back when they were at an artist colony together and because he gave her a quote to put of the jacket of T4. So, Gregory is big juju with kids books already when Wicked is published, so we'll put those aside for the mo and focus on his adult books: As a follow-up to Wicked, he chose to do Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Now, I happen to know that he got a truly pitiable advance for the latter novel (my sister met him when he was working on a finalized draft of it) but he was able to sell it to them because it was essentially in style if not content a follow-up to Wicked. Would he have been able to sell his next book at all if it had been, say, a serious nonfiction account of, say, how the sandwich was invented? My guess: probably not.
As much as I loved my sister's other work, and I do believe she'll be able to sell The Silent Census once T4 is published, I really think The Signing Island is the follow-up they want from her. Plus, it's a pretty bitchin' book, and I've only read part of the initial draft. Then again, I do like the period in American history and it's something I knew nothing about, so she's right in saying that I would like it!
Let's see, what else has happened since I last updated. Well, Charlton Heston passed on, which I found amazingly sad, and not just 'cause my mom wasn't around to point out, once more, that they have to change his last name in Greece because, according to her, it means 'shit on you' in her native tongue. Mr. Heston, you provided me with hours upon hours of pure, shameless entertainment and some of the greatest movies ever made, especially for a sci-fi aficionado such as myself. You will be greatly missed, sir!
Oh, and most importantly, I missed big sistah's birthday, DOH! So,
lindsaygirl58, this one's for you:( As always, an inappropriate but delightful birthday wish behind the cut! )
Peace, Ghani
ETA: Hopefully soon, I'll be able to put my thoughts for the new season of Doctor Who down to LJ. Yes, they are highly favorable, but then again, I've always been one of Donna's biggest fans so it's not entirely surprising!
