Robin Hobb's Blog, page 11

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I just conpleted an interview with the British Fantasy Society.  I very much enjoyed it. It wasn’t the standard set of questions.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday, I was virtuous.  I sat at my desk and let nothing distract me.  I worked on my revisions all day. 

Today I shoveled most of a pick up truck of soil into the raised beds that I’d lined with landscaping fabric. Then we went down to the building-that-is-soon-to-be-a-dojo where I rewired a pigtail for the pump that theoretically makes hot water reach the bathrooms faster, hung signs for the handicapped bathrooms in braille at the appropriate height, hosed out the truck bed, pressure washed part of the side of the building, and nearly broke a drill bit trying to get through some ancient masonry to hang toilet paper dispensers at the prescribed height in the bathroom.  Then I picked up half a truck load of construction debris from our site.    On the way back to Tacoma, we stopped and picked up vermiculite, more landscape fabric, extra pipe hangers for the saggy pexpipe, two more drill bits, and the hangers for the rain gutters.And we came home.

Fred wants me to come down there again tomorrow with him to shovel another truck load of soil into raised beds and possibly get the rain gutters hung on one side of the dojo and try out the new drillbits that may get through the masonry.  Oh, yes, we have vermiculite to mix into the filled beds of soil.  And if we have time left over, we need to paint the trim in the janitor’s closet.  And if the drillbits work, I can put the pipehangers on the saggy pexpipe.

Or I can stay home and write.

And I’m really tempted to go with him, because that sounds like a much easier day than trying to make the words go right on the screen.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Over at Speculate you will find a review of my story collection: The Inheritance & Other Stories.

Here is Speculate’s own description:

Welcome to Episode 69 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  With this episode we begin a new triptych of shows on the work of Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, looking at the 2011 short story collection The Inheritance and Other Stories–the first time both pseudonyms have been brought together in one volume.  In particular we talk about Lindholm’s stories “A Touch of Lavender” and “The Fifth Squashed Cat,” along with Hobb’s stories “The Inheritance” and  “Cat’s Meat”; although both names belong to one author, the voices and emphases are quite different, and we look at both those differences and the assured touch of a speculative fiction master evident throughout all of the book.  If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week when we’ll continue the triptych with our interview of Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm herself.  Until then, thanks as always for listening to the show, and please continue to spread the word.

I had a wonderful time doing the interview via Skype (but it is audio only!) despite the challenges of doing this in a lively household.  The first time we attempted it, I was knocked off the internet several times, possibly by my home phone ringing.

In the second episode, I waged a mostly silent battle with Diego the desk cat over whether or not he was allowed to stroll on the keyboard, or perhaps just sit on it during the interview.  And, of course, I was knocked off Skype once, and had three phone calls making my house phone ring.  I’m trusting those will be barely audible.

Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable and I hope readers will likewise enjoy the interview when it comes up.

In the meantime, I commend to your attention the Speculate interview with Peter V. Brett and Myke Cole, findable (did I just invent that word) on the right hand side of the Skype site. Good stuff there.

Happy March!

 

 

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

A excerpt of my novella The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince is now available over at Tor!  Why Tor?  Well, why not?    If you’d like a peek at the tale before you commit to buying, follow the link and see if you like it!  At the very least, go look at the lovely cover art!  You won’t regret it.

And another quick bit of news.  For the very first time, I will be venturing into South America.  Or rather, my books will.  Maybe I’ll have the opportunity to follow them eventually! 

I’m very pleased to announce that my amazing agent Chris has negotiated a publishing agreement with Texto Editores LTDA. They will be publishing the Farseer Trilogy sometime before December 2014, followed by the Liveship Traders before December 2014, in Portuguese.

I am so very pleased about this!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I’ve received a number of queries recently, so I decided I should re-post the information here.  Blood of Dragons  will be released in the US on April 9, 2013.  Australia and the UK will have it on the shelves by then also.

You may even find the book on US shelves at the end of March, as some bookstores put books out as soon as they arrive.

Thanks for being interested!  The amazing cover is by Jackie Morris.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Pulling myself together to head up to University Book Store for my 7 PM event with Jackie Morris. Jackie will be reading from one of her books, perhaps I am Cat or East of the Sun,West of the Moon and doing some sketching. I will read a bit from the forthcoming Blood of Dragons. We have a gift basket to raffle off to attendees. It has all four of the Rain Wild Chronicles books in it, all with cover art by Jackie. It includes an ARC (advance Reading Copy) of Blood of Dragons, the unreleased finale to the Rain Wild Chronicles. Hope to see some readers there! 4326 University Way, N.E. – Seattle, Washington 98105

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Clarion West.

Among the genres, I think that the readers of SF and fantasy have the highest percentage of readers who also dream of being writers.  And look at that lineup of instructors for 2013.  That’s a wonderful spectrum of writers from the full rainbow of SF and fantasy.

I never had the good fortune to be able to attend Clarion.  I think that if I had, I would have achieved success decades earlier.  Perhaps Clarion or Clarion West is right for you?

Clarion and Clarion West are probably the best known writing workshops for people who want a six week boot camp on how to be a writer.

The upcoming session�

(June 23 to August 2)

will be taught by�

Elizabeth Hand,

Neil Gaiman,

Joe Hill,

Justina Robson,

Ellen Datlow, and

Samuel R. Delany,�

our 2013 Susan C. Petrey Fellow.
The fee for applications received by midnight Pacific Time on February 10, will be discounted from $40 to $30.We’ll need the full $40 fee from anyone applying after that.ALL  applications for this year’s session must be RECEIVED by our final deadline of midnight on March 1. These deadlines are fast approaching. To apply now, or to find more information and a PDF of our call-for-applicants with instructor bios, visit  2013 Clarion West Six-Week Workshop .

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I’ve just finished update my appearances for the year or as many as I know of right now. I’ll be at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and I’ll be doing an event at the Boston Public Library on Boyston St. Later, I’ll be a guest at Hypericon in Nashville, Tennessee and late in October, I’ll do a book tour of the UK, wrapping it up at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England. I hope I’ll get the chance to meet many more readers!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I did this interview at Dragon Con with Jean Marie Ward.  She had some very interesting questions about magic and power.

Sorry about the constant blinking!  Watching this, I realize how difficult bright light is for me to endure!  But of course it’s necessary to the filming process!

 

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

So, here it is, my very first Skype experience, an interview with Sword and Laser!

 

And I’m also very pleased to report that the Lee Moyer 2013 Literary Pin Up calendar is now available for order at The Tinkers Pack.  Only $20 and the money goes to a good cause, Heifer International.  This charity helps needy families to acquire livestock that enables them to better their standard of living.