Some Very Knife Things

[rj_anderson]

Some Knife-related news and other lovely things that have cropped up in the past few weeks:

First, the end of February brought me a new LJ friend, who drew this lovely piece of fan art and captured the Knife in my head so perfectly that when I first saw it I cried with happiness. It also came with a beautiful review of the book -- thank you, cirtholien!

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Early in March I learned that Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter has been shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association’s Children’s Book of the Year award. It also made the Ontario Library Association’s Best Bets For Children, which is a list of ten books selected on the basis of their literary/artistic merit, as well as their appeal for children. I'm thrilled and honoured to be on both these lists!

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Then, from March 23-25, Spell Hunter was the first-ever mass market title to be featured on the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. When I signed up for the tour I wasn't sure how well Knife's story would be received or how many would be interested even in reading it -- but I have to say I was blown away by the number and quality of the reviews and the depth and insight that many of the reviewers brought to the book. Even though a couple of participants had misgivings about the content or felt the story was less meaningful than they'd hoped, they always expressed themselves graciously and there were some terrific discussions in comments. Here are some highlights:

Rebecca LuElla Miller's opening post on why books like Spell Hunter are worthwhile and also her excellent review;

My fellow Blue Boarder Sally Apokedak talking about Weaving in Worldview and how to handle spiritual truth without preaching;

Fred Warren's shrewd, humorous series of posts.

Thanks to all the CSFF bloggers who read Spell Hunter and took the time to post about it!

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And lastly, look at what showed up in my mailbox today! It's the complete and unabridged audio book version of Knife, as read by Emma Parish, from Oakhill Audio in the UK! I can't wait to sit down and give it a proper listen...

***

And tomorrow, I look forward to telling you all how much I adored and enjoyed "The Eleventh Hour", also known as the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who. Though I suppose I've just told you what I thought of it already... but rest assured, I have much more rabbiting on to do about the new Doctor, the new companion, and the story than that!

Comments

[renisanz.livejournal.com]

Oh yay! I can especially appreciate the fan art. :) Congrats on the accolades. :)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Fan art is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. And thank you!

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

That fan art is GORGEOUS. Congrats on everything. :D

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Isn't it, though?

And speaking of GORGEOUS, your cover looks fab! Can't wait to see the finalized version.

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

Thanks, ME TOO. ;)

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Yay for all the good things!

So did you ever figure out the reader's regional accent?

Here's a funny thing. I was *sure* the audio reader for MT was English, though an odd word here and there should have clued me in sooner. Turns out he's American. But he does all the British social register, which was very cool, I thought.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

That is cool! Though when it comes to audio books, I confess to being like Lucy Honeychurch, who preferred her own piano playing to anyone else's; once I've read a book out loud I have my own ideas of how the voices should be done, and now I can't imagine listening to anybody else's version of Nevery!

But I will be very interested to check out how Emma Parish does all the various character voices in Knife... especially Paul's.

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Heh. I actually 'hear' the actor's voice now when I write Nevery. He nailed it.

Here's another funny thing. In the German audio of MT the voice actor is the same actor who dubbed the role of Harry Potter in the German version of the movies. I haven't actually listened to it yet...

[newport2newport.livejournal.com]

Fabulous drawing, and I love that so many wonderful things happened during your absence from the internets. Also? I'm glad, very glad, to see you back!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to be back myself! Love your cheerful icon.

[dawn-metcalf.livejournal.com]

OMG! *dies* How perfect!!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I had to sit down. And then I had to get some tissues. I dabble a bit in drawing, but I can never get the images in my own mind onto paper, so this was literally a dream come true.

[kerravonsen]

\o/ That is a LOT of win happening! Go you!
And go cirtholien for the lovely fanart.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm delighted to see that you enjoyed TEH as much as I did. I've been enjoying other people's reviews and the general sense of revived squee over the new series...

[shoebox2.livejournal.com]

Excellent stuff, all of it. And yes, that is a gorgeous bit of fanart.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*beams at you*

[tinpra.livejournal.com]

That is all truly fantastic news! Congratulations on the nominations. I'm looking forward to seeing the posts about your wins :D

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thank you, you're very kind! I appreciate you stopping by to comment (even if it took me ages to acknowledge it!).

[lydaclunas.livejournal.com]

I love love love the fanart -- I agree, it's kind of perfect!

And I am glad you have returned! (I'm one to talk, since I haven't updated LJ in like 2 months. Heh.)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I miss you! We must talk some time!

Do you have Skype? I can Skype now, with webcam and everything!

[lydaclunas.livejournal.com]

I know! We must!

I do have Skype... and a webcam... though I haven't really used much of either since I dragged David down to Texas. But! I could totally get it hooked up again. Yay!

[infiniteviking]

That art is gorgeous. :D The WINGS... eeeee! cirtholien is amazing!

Congratulations on being shortlisted and all those positive reviews! And on the audiobook! And I'm looking forward to your Eleventh Hour thoughts Very Much. ^_____^

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I have not forgotten that you were the first one to do KNIFE fanart! And that it was lovely and her action-y pose was so cool -- I love action poses! In fact, I think there should be more of them on book covers. Book covers should look more like comic book covers, with people Actually Doing Stuff, especially if the book is an actiony book. I should write a blog post about this, Y/N?

[infiniteviking]

<3 Awww, thank you! What I love about book fanart is how there are so many right ways to do it -- trying to figure out what Knife looked like in my head as I was reading, and then going back to check my impressions against your actual descriptions, and then seeing what she looks like in someone else's head. But yeah, action poses rock.~ Much agreement having Epic Actiony Covers -- yes, do write a post about it if you're inspired to; it'd be great to see your (ahem) perspective on the subject! :D

[fandoria.livejournal.com]

Ooh what exciting news! And that fan art is just gorgeous.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Best wishes with your own projects too!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Somehow, that audiobook looks very enticing. The art is nice, too.

(Mary, who is wondering when we will get #11 in the U.S., and plans to avoid spoilers addiduously!)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

By "#11" I HOPE you mean #2? Because I have a contract for four books in the UK but definitely not eleven! :D

In any case, WAYFARER will be released in North America on June 22nd. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Oh, I meant doctor number 11! It is 11, isn't it?

And I am looking forward to "Wayfarer" - I did decide to wait for the American pub. date, on your advice, and I am being patient. ;)May I say, I am extremely impressed with anyone who can manage to write a series of books with coherent themes and characters. Not an easy trick to pull off, IMHO!

(and, on the subject of the doctor, I have had an evil thought. Why is he never female?)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* Yes, of course, your comment makes SO much more sense when read as actually written. Clearly I am still getting used to the concept of the 11th Doctor actually being a reality...

You're far from being the first one to propose a female Doctor, though!

[haworth-attard.livejournal.com]

I'm late with my replies, but congratulations! When you read from it in Bayfield, I knew it was going to be a good seller.
My best,
Barb

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, Barbara! You are very kind. I hope our paths will cross again soon!

[scarvenartist.livejournal.com]

*turns pink*

Congrats on all of the recent awesomeness! I loved reading the CSFF reviews - particularly appreciated Sally Apokedak's comments on the role of the Christian in relation to art, and how that comes through in the book. And gaaaah, audiobook. WANT.

(Also, I'm so happy to hear you've finished the draft of Arrow - I hope revisions go swimmingly!)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

You know what's really ridiculous? I haven't even listened to the audiobook yet. I'm almost scared to, because I know how the characters sound in my head and I know this will be very different...

Glad you enjoyed the CSFF reviews, and thanks once again for the stunning art!

[ekjohnston.livejournal.com]

You're from Stratford?

*friends*

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Are you from around here too?

[ekjohnston.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Egmondville, which makes Stratford one of the only bastions of culture. ;)

[rat-icefen.livejournal.com]

I loved Knife and only just finished Rebel which was just as good maybe better. I really liked the fan art of knife, it's very good, thumbs up to the artist and of course the author who wrote such wonderful books.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'm delighted you enjoyed Rebel as much as Knife (or even more!). I appreciate you stopping by to say so!

Knife

[(Anonymous)]

I love Knife! It is my favorite book! I spent my Sunday locked up in my room reading it (much to grandmothers and friends annoyance although, one of them was very proud of me because I never read....). I even woke at 5 am on Monday and decided to read Rebel for two hours until my alarm went off because I was almost finished. I have been nagging all my friends to read it and have gave in! Yay! Can't wait for Arrow! :D

Re: Knife

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Wow, getting up at 5 a.m. to read my book is quite the compliment! Thank you so much!