Starred review...

[desperance]

Hem. This is slightly difficult, on account of (as you all know by now) my next novel is pseudonymous, and I'm not supposed to be spreading the new name about.

However, Publishers' Weekly has just given the book a starred review; so I will over-indulge myself with a discreet quote or two:

"... captures the foggy mysteries of feudal China in exquisite style with this
rich fantasy series opener. Pirate captain Li Ton needs a new ship's boy,
having worn out the old one, so he captures apprentice scribe Han, who
becomes infected with magic in a duel. When Li Ton kills the monks who forge
links to the chain binding an ancient undersea dragon, he and Han are caught
up in a multilayered tale of supernatural creatures, a deposed emperor on the
run and jade that grants extraordinary powers. ...'s concisely elegant style
mirrors the light brush strokes and deep colors of ancient Chinese paintings,
finely balancing detail, emotion and action. Where many Western authors try
and fail to capture the nuances of Chinese culture and mythology, this
melodious tale quietly succeeds."

Hee. I love that. Pirates and dragons and jade, all snared in a paragraph (took me a whole book, forsooth...). And "concisely elegant". That's not what I said about it, but hey. I could be wrong.

Comments

[kazdreamer.livejournal.com]

Dude, that is too easy. I just googled a few details and... presto! ;) Just sayin'...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I know. I do know. It is not my task to make it difficult; weirdly, I want people to buy this book, y'know? Just, I have been asked not to jump up and down crying ****** *** is me!! - and so, I am not doing that. Quite...

(But you should instantly order the book for your shelves, iffen you don't have it already on order.)

[kazdreamer.livejournal.com]

:) I will check, when I go in tomorrow. Sounds awesome! I'm sure there will be plenty ordered for FP (our 'sister store').

Congratulations!

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

Email me off-LJ with the title so I can buy it. And congrats on the starred review.

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Have just pre-ordered a book by a foxy friend of yours... Whistles innocently...

[pjthompson]

Sounds lovely!

[ogre-san.livejournal.com]

Very nice.

[pjthompson]

p.s. You've been Klausnerized, too.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I will do that; can you e-mail me your off-LJ e-dress? (I only have that on my main computer, which is in hospital till after Xmas...) I am chaz at chazbrenchley dot co dot uk...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Ooh, have I? *streaks off to look*

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Fab!

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Yay! Please convey to moshui congratulations on the review! I am looking forward to his book very much.

Oh, do you have a pseudonym? /wide-eyed innocence.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

After reading that excellent review, I'm pouting because no one at Del Rey thought to ask me me me for a quote. I mean, then I would have gotten to read it already. Right? Whatever it is, since of course it has nothing to do with you.

[badbookworm.livejournal.com]

I also succumbed to the urge to google. But to make up for it, I'll succumb to the urge to order :-D

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Ah, now light *finally* dawns, thanks to some googling. And much becomes clear *toddles off to pre-order*

Have to say knowing its by you is more of an incentive to buy rather than less in my case, only my secong pre-order this year, I'm a cautious book-buyer.

[pjthompson]

http://genregoroundreviews.blogspot.com/2008/12/dragon-in-chains-daniel-fox.html

I didn't see it at Amazon, but it's at her blog.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Whatever it is, of course it had nothing to do with me. However, I am in the privileged position of being able to tell you that you were top of my list of people-to-ask-for-a-quote, only somehow the ARCs never got sent out to the people on the list. Um. There have been Words Spoken. I am vaguely hopeful that you might yet receive an early copy of the book itself; and if you could bring yourself to utter quotably thereupon, those words might be saved up for the second volume, etc etc...

(Hrrumph. I am sorry, and pissed off, to a degree greater than you can imagine...)

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderful!

[melissa-writing.livejournal.com]

RE: "elegant style . . . balancing detail, emotion and action"
*nods* That certainly fits my impression of your writing. You can do beautiful things with words.

Congrats on the review.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. Thank you!

(Do you get this too, that between proofs and publication you can see nothing good in the book at all, but only all its transparent faults? So that those early reviews just catch you by surprise every time...?)

[melissa-writing.livejournal.com]

RE: seeing faults
Oh yes. The moment it's at the point where I can't change it the panic sets in bc I'm SURE it's horrifically flawed. Scary stuff in those pre-release months . . .

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. I would also be pissed off. I've decided that the secret to continuing to be able to work in this field is being able to forge forward AGAIN no matter what.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

But I am sorry I can't pout any longer. I love pouting.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Ooh, lovely.

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

Sounds quite interesting, I do have to get that one.

I'm a bit confused, though, because when you first attended FantasyCon (and that was years ago, much as it pains me to admit it) and I asked people who you were, I was told you wrote under the ****** *** byline. I learned that before I knew your actual, real name!

And now I learn it's a closely-guarded (well...) secret? That feels very very weird.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Heh!

Googled and ordered!

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice. I shall has that for my next break from dissertating.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, bloody bravo. Starred review! Yay! Pirates and dragons and jade, oh my! Yay! :)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. What goes around, comes around. Originally I was a crime writer under my own name; when agent & Other Publisher encouraged me to write horror too, the plan was to publish the horror as by ****** ***, in order to keep the two voices separate. Then my first publisher started putting horror covers on the crime books, the two voices got Dreadfully Confused - with what dire results we know - and the *** name fell into desuetude.

And then when the notion came up (from me, originally) that this new series should be pseudonymous, I had that name to hand and still liked it, and so. I should probably have made better efforts to guard the secret - like moving the *** short stories off my own website, f'rexample - but hey. The point is to fool the computers, not the readership...

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

At the time, I understood the *** name was used on action novels. Hence I didn't search them out. I wonder if I misunderstood or the explainer had it wrong. Dreadfully confused indeed.

[cinderberry.livejournal.com]

I seriously can't wait to get my hands on it. I mean... there are cabin boys? *slurps*

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. Are you familiar with Tom Robinson's "I wanna be your cabin boy"?

[cinderberry.livejournal.com]

Indeed not! I googled the lyrics, they sound about right *g*