More Adventures in Research

 

More adventures in research. Harry Turtledove turned me on to this one a couple of years ago - I find it a soothing and informative before-bed read (when I should actually be researching either the Presidential election of 1840 - for Benjamin January - or what the Los Angeles barrios were like in 1924 - for the second Hollywood mystery). American Cornball is an exhaustive compilation taken from old joke-books, old "novelties" catalogs (the precursors to Archie McPhee), old magazine, newspaper, and animated cartoons, of stuff that used to be considered hilarious in American culture and now isn't. From the hate-filled pervasiveness of racist humor to the "hunh?" of humor about women's ankles and people getting their hats knocked off, the guy really did his research, and writes in a pleasant, readable, thoughtful style. Sometimes simply curious, sometimes really unsettling to see some of the things that people at one time thought it was okay to make jokes about - a LOT of jokes. 

And none of it has anything to do with any project I'm working on, thank goodness.

Back in 2013 I started work on my first fantasy novel in many years, a trilogy of which the first volume would be called The Iron Princess. I wrote 75,000 words of it, then sent it to my agent to shop around, but due to the uncertain nature of the market at that time, we got no takers. Back in June - about two weeks after signing a contract for two murder mysteries (with fairly tight deadlines), I get word back from my wonderful agent: "We've got a taker for Iron Princess, but, they want it really soon AND can you make it a stand-alone and not a trilogy?" 

I did finish Iron Princess (with serious re-writing) AND Death and Hard Cider (Benjamin January #19) on time - AND re-wrote the several lectures for my class that had to be re-written - but I'm now very, very tired. I'm EXTREMELY pleased with both - some of the weirdness connected with the Presidential campaign of 1840 ("Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!") was pretty entertaining (I think I already posted about the giant balls of rawhide), and Iron Princess is a project long close to my heart. But I'm also extremely pleased that I can take a few days off before starting in on Hollywood in 1924 again.

Time to clean out the fridge, wash some dishes, throw out piles of notes and tackle the dust-rhinos that have built up behind the couch. (Another week and I'd have had to call in the Colonial Marines to deal with them).

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Comments

  1. Mike HallNovember 29, 2021 at 3:45 PM

    I'm looking forward to "The Iron Princess", though I have a tinge of regret that it's not going to be a trilogy. Any idea as to publication date?

    Having a somewhat lackadaisical approach to housework, I suggest a live and let live approach to dust-rhinos, at least as long as they stay out of sight behind the couch. Calling in the Colonial Marines sounds a bit over the top, especially if you mean the troops who normally fight alongside Ripley. I doubt the couch would survive the encounter. Even the British version - recruited from escaped slaves back in the War of 1812 - would probably be adverse to the idea of taking up cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbara HamblyNovember 30, 2021 at 10:58 AM

      It would take the interstellar Colonial Marines to deal with the dust-rhinos. And, it's a pretty old couch. I just don't want my friends to be frightened by anything they see when they visit.

      "Iron Princess" should be out late next year. There were a couple of story-lines I would have liked to pursue in a longer version - and I had to kill off a couple of characters and relationships that I would have liked to develop - but I'm pleased with the tighter version as it stands.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Even More Fun With Research

Image
Here's an old one, to remind me that I really do need to get back to painting. Having turned in the manuscript for the next Hollywood murder mystery just before Christmas, I've been putting together outlines for what I hope will be the next Ben January book (# 21!) and the next Hollywood book (which will take place mostly in the film industry in New York, which was just as much a center of motion picture production in the mid-'20s as Hollywood was, and a lot more fun after hours). Writing up an outline is like pre-writing the book. I, at least, have to figure out what happens, and how; who's the villain, who gets killed, and why. Any murder mystery is actually two stories: the story of the crime itself, and then the story of how Mr. Holmes or Lord Peter or Professor Tamar figures out whodunnit. And, in my case at least, to give a picture of the world, the society, in which such events take place, which is a large part of the fun. It's one reason I love historicals. ...
Read more

Sample Post

Image
     A girl once went to the fair to hire herself for servant. At last a funny-looking old gentleman engaged her, and took her home to his house. When she got there, he told her that he had something to teach her, for that in his house he had his own names for things.      He said to her, "What will you call me?"    " Master or mister, or whatever you please, sir," says she.      He said, "You must call me master of all masters . And what would you call this?" he said pointing to his bed.      "Bed or couch, or whatever you please, sir."     " No, that's my barnacle . And what do you call these?" said he, pointing to his pantaloons.     "Breeches or trousers, or whatever you please, sir."     "You must call them squibs and crackers . And what would you call her?" he said pointing to the cat.     "Cat or kit, or whatever you please, sir."     "...
Read more

Entirely Too Much Fun With Research

Image
  My apologies for the long hiatus, once again. In addition to finishing the usual round of line-edit + copy-edit on the next Hollywood book, Saving Susy Sweetchild, a lot of things to do: minor health fixes, the Gallifrey One convention, and the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Book Collectors Show (and a couple of truly lovely evenings with friends). The Paperback Show is always entertaining. In addition to a staggering number of old paperbacks - many of which I remember reading in the '60s (there was a bookstore on Holt Blvd in Pomona that I'd bike down to on Saturdays: we referred to it as "Dirty Earl's" because of the goods on offer in the store's back room) - there are dealers specializing in the cover-art of the 1940s-1970s era. And, the show (and especially Tom Lesser - Thank you, Tom!) makes sure it has a day-long rotation of authors to sign those paperbacks. In addition to chats with fan and writer friends, I found such things as English translations of...
Read more