Aaahhhh...

[dancinghorse]

There's nothing like a good revision letter from an editor who knows her stuff (I am singularly blessed in my editors). Notes on Shattered Dance are in, and while there is tweakage and there are questions (and they are very good questions), it's not another six-week brain-eating blitz. Thank Gawd.

We are particularly pleased with: "First off, you had me in in tears! ...a strong and satisfying story...a triumphant, yet warm and grounded ending... An excellent end to the trilogy I think!"

Just what we want to hear after the ordeal of revising Song of Unmaking, which suffered from a bad case of second-book-itis. (raithen must be grinning because of comments made about trilogies.)

The next week is going to be rather obsessive. But at the end of it, there will be a Book.

And we are also allowed to share the cover, which looks like this:





We are pleased. Yes.

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

who me? grinning? :)

also: WHEE!!!! *happy dance*

Congratulations!

*hands over black venti iced, no water* Brain food!

[patchwork-prose.livejournal.com]

Striking cover! Very nice!

[monder.livejournal.com]

Yay! Love the cover

Double yay an excuse to reread the first two!

[tharain.livejournal.com]

::stretched out hand and declaims::

LET THERE BE BOOK.

Very cool =D

[anghara.livejournal.com]

from a similar place in the trenches (copy editing overload), sympathies and congratulations - I, too, hope that at the end of next week there will be (another) Book... particularly since I really really REALLY have to get on with #2 but I keep being pulled back into #1...

[gracefulshrimp.livejournal.com]

YAY!!! I for one, cannot wait!

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, I'd buy that book for the cover alone. ::is still 12 and fixated on horsies::

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Awesome on the revis!

*nods at the cover*
Dang-o Luna artists man... haven't seen a bad cover from them yet.

Woot for you!

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Oh, love the cover!

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

*hands over black venti iced, no water*

If by that you mean iced tea, then you sure know your brain food. :) Black venti iced tea, no water is my crack.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

in which you are therefore like your sister ;)

[plutosonium.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I want to be that girl.

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

I must confess to introducing her to that particular vice... :)

[raithen.livejournal.com]

sisters are TERRIBLY useful for such things ;).

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I adore a good revision letter, yes! Kinda like getting the right prescription for the glasses at last!

[eponin10.livejournal.com]

Wow.

Gorgeous cover! :) Can't wait for the book.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

drooling

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

Great cover!

[raiining.livejournal.com]

Wow! Talk about where one can get by following replies on livejournal ... I started with Sucrattis and wound up here! Another Luna book lady! So *your* the author of those horse books, and you actually ride horses!

My boyfriend's brother is thinking of getting horses, and we also want a farm-like home such as he has one day: so I've friended you just for the horse-talk, but also your writing! I have seen that series in the book store for years, but have to admit I've never bought it before. To hear the third trilogy is coming out is great: I think a trip to Chapter's is in order! Expect an email/reply from me when I've finished the first one!

- raiining

The Mountains Call

[raiining.livejournal.com]

Wow - what an interesting book. I'm glad I bought it and its sequel today, too. Mark my words, I had to go looking for them. The one Indigo's was out, the independent bookstores didn't have it, and finally I had to take a bus into the city proper to find it at Chapters.

At first, I have to admit, I didn't think the journey was worth it. The first chapters were kind of jarring, the introduction a little weak - but the characters were good, and that more than anything else kept me going. I love Val, and especially enjoying this awakening of her sensuality (she's just leaving for the Great Dance right now). Such a pagan novel! Woman's power, the sun the moon and horses ... magical, in a very powerful way.

At first, I didn't understand Val's anger - in the first chapters, it seemed jarring, but then I understood when we met the Stallion. As he is not a truly angery creature, neither it seems is she, but simply frustrated at this world that men have created.

I love the men in the story, from the bastard at the beginning, to her Master and this barbarian ... though I have to say the writing is still a little jarring. It will flow wonderfully, with just the right amount of feeling and tone emerging from its pages, but then a shift of perspective will occur and suddenly I'm lost. When you do that, its hard to know who is talking or - worse - thinking. I have to go back and try to figure things out, and that disrupts the flow and I fall out of this world you've created. But the worst bit is that sometimes even going back doesn't make it clearer - I'm still lost.

Fortunately, so far its never been at any important point. Just small stuff when you change POV too fast. In fact, your entire writing style is rather fast, and in many ways reminds me of J.K. Rowlings, though I hate to say it. I fear *that* association may become too quickly used to judge any acceptable work, much like J.R. Tolkien's. I simply mean that, like JKR, you make very much of what is really a small amount of detail. Your story passes quickly - and at first so quickly that the pace surprised me. But then so much of the story was revealed on the back cover, that I saw there must obviously have been *more*. Its just that, if you had asked at the beginning, I wouldn't have been able to say how *much* more. The width and breath of the plot I'm beginning to see hints of is staggering, but that could be because I'm giving the horses too much credit. They are gods, though. It is to them I would look to find the real plot, of course.

Well, enough blabbering from me - I've got to get back and get a few more chapters in before the party I'm supposed to be a part of gets going. Its medical interview weekend here and all the new hopefuls have or will be having their interviews. I know how nervous I was a year ago today, so its my duty to do my part. But not before I get a little more Val into my system!

It really is a wonderful book, and I'm glad I kept with it. Thank you for writing it.

- Raiin

Re: The Mountains Call

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's intriguing to watch a reader-in-progress--and very interesting to get the blow-by-blow reaction. I'm glad you're enjoying the book. :)

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

You can, you know. Eventually. :)

[plutosonium.livejournal.com]

I've done the no-tack riding, though I may or may not ever trust Pluto for that. But the canyon? No canyons here. And if there were, there wouldn't be any cool symbols on them.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Details, details.

Canyons. We got canyons here. Cool symbols just need a can of paint and a brush.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

we've got the canyon, one, and it's called Wild Horse Canyon and the symbols are there - or at least they were, and I can't imagine the fire damaged them ;).

Wild Horse Canyon was at the heart of our big fires, and it was very beautiful and I imagine it is starting to revive (I haven't been out yet this year) and it has (had?) Indian Pictographs. And it has wonderful riding trails. but also rattlensnakes. *meep* thank goodness for kind horses ;).