I’m supposed to be napping, because was up at ridiculous o’clock this morning, like a kid on Christmas. And I do find myself at a slight loss for words, here, now that it comes down to it.
Let me merely say: my heartfelt thanks for all the support, encouragement, and enthusiasm. This has been a very long journey. Some of you have been on it with me from the beginning; some are just newly joining in. Thank you each and every one.
Here is the exciting video interview I did with Misty at The Book Rat! I have to warn you, I get silly. I sing (if you can call it that). I was operating on maybe two hours’ sleep. It was a coffee miracle.
I believe my guest post at The Book Smugglers goes up today too. I’ll update with the linky when I get it. Update: Here it is! Come see which nerdy albums I listened to most while writing Seraphina!
(I almost wrote “The Book Snugglers”, which strikes me as adorable.)
Second Update: A lovely review at Bookalicious.org!
Tomorrow is the big day, friends!
An enthusiastic review at Bookyurt: “This book gobsmacked me, with its assured storytelling, sheer originality, and lovely, lovely voice.”
Misty at The Book Rat seemed to enjoy it too. Maybe just a little bit. Also: another of the video interviews I did this spring will be up at her site soon. It’s the one where I sing, you lucky people! I’ll make sure it gets inflicted upon all of you when it’s up.
The fellow at YA Know What I Mean? was not as impressed. But YA know what? That’s cool. It’s important to get another angle on things, I think.
Misfit Salon likes the use of music in the book. Thanks! Those were some of my favourite passages to write.
Paranormal Indulgence has rated it “Perfect Bed Partner”. As someone who loves to read in bed, I appreciate that! Possible spoilers, maybe? I can’t ever tell.
Hello darlings! Most excellent news: The Book Smugglers have put up their review of Seraphina. They’ve been very careful about spoilers, so if anyone has been avoiding reviews for that reason, you’ve nothing to fear here.
I am so very pleased, not merely because they liked the book, but because The Book Smugglers was one of the very first fantasy/YA review blogs I came across, back when I first went looking for such things. I have always been impressed by the care and thoughtfulness they put into their reviews, and I feel honoured to have been featured there.
As it says at the end of the review, they invited me to write an “Influences & Inspirations” guest post, which will be up on Monday along with a chance to win a copy of the book. Spoiler: I wax even nerdier than usual about music! Go me! I feel like I should assign some listening homework over the weekend.
Technically this one is musical as well, but the music isn’t as good because it’s me singing it. I suddenly realized that because I missed choir practice last week, there’s an entire song I don’t know at all. It’s our conductor’s idiosyncratic arrangement of “Bring Me Little Water Sylvie.”
“Idiosyncratic” makes it sound dreadful. It’s not. It’s quite good. It just has a lot of accidentals and some interesting but counter-intuitive dissonance. Also, the MP3 he sent me features him singing the alto part falsetto, which gives me the giggles.
So I am trying simultaneously to learn the alto part and write blog-tour posts. My success rate at each is about what you might suspect, although I think I’ve about got the song down. I’ve been singing along so automatically that I forgot I was doing it when I answered the door for the FedEx guy.
Curiously, the lyrics at that moment chanced to be perfectly apropos: I can hear you callin’!
FedEx, it appears, selects its delivery dudes for unflappability. This is why.
Happy 4th of July to our charming southern neighbours! I know we sometimes refer to your fine nation as “Canada’s pants”, but we mean it with all the love and respect in the world.
Today’s bit of excitement is a review of Seraphina from Tamora Pierce herself! Back in ancient times, when I worked at Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA, I heard Tamora Pierce talk to a school assembly. She fearlessly engaged the students right off the bat, taking all questions and giving the sharpest, wittiest off-the-cuff answers you ever heard. I was in awe and still am. She was such a charismatic presence up there on that stage. Her books are great, too. 🙂
Here’s her take on mine. Thank you so much, Tamora Pierce. I am moved and humbled and out of words for once.
Edited to add: some folks are finding this review a bit spoiler-y. If you’re spoiler-averse, you may want to hold off on reading this one.
…that Seraphina was reviewed in the Washington Post! I guess I can’t not link to that.
The closer we get to Seraphina‘s release date, the more reviews are popping up all over the internet. They’re like pea shoots, curling out of the soil. There are actually more than I can easily link to anymore.
I will link to some of my favourites, I promise, but today I’d like to hare off in a different direction for a bit. Surely it gets tedious to hear about me all the time? Right?
So okay, last fall my favourite Irish singer… no, no, why qualify that? My favourite singer period, the inimitable Iarla Ó Lionáird, put out a new album called Foxlight. For some reason it took us an absurdly long time to obtain it, but now we have and I’m finding it delightful. It contains more of his own compositions and less traditional sean-nós than his previous albums, but that’s all right with me. I love sean-nós, but he brings that sensibility with him no matter what he does. My husband is a bit disappointed that some of the songs are as Béarla (in English), and I agree that I prefer hearing him sing in Irish. But. Even in English, I love that voice.
Here’s a short video I found about the making of Foxlight:
And here’s one of the songs (in Irish):
Goats! Singing! What else could you possibly want?
All right, back to the usual tomorrow.
These went up at Book Chick City while I was out of town, and I failed to notice until after I’d already posted yesterday. But if anyone’s interested in ten amusing and largely silly facts about me, here they are.
One thing I failed to mention, but could have, is that I am completely incapable of resisting a jigsaw puzzle. My son recently got a jigsaw puzzle of the Rosetta stone. It’s either extremely cool or it’s going to make me go blind from squinting at tiny Greek letters. Probably both.
I am back from my top-secret vacation to an undisclosed location, and just in time for Canada Day. Happy birthday to my beloved second homeland. You don’t look a day over 145!
In honour of that, and of this month being the final countdown to my book release, Seraphina gets a nice mention in a post on Hidden Canadian Gems at Badass Book Reviews. Thanks, AH!
Also, thanks to Rebecca at Book Chick City for this lovely review. It went up a few days ago, while I was still off the radar.
As the month progresses, there will be guest posts by yours truly in a number of locations. I will try to stay on top of things and link to them as they happen, but if you spot one before I do, don’t be afraid to speak up!
Rachel Hartman 