November 2007

Newsletter 22

Hello, friends!

Summer has lingered into fall here in North Texas, but the seasons are finally changing. I always feel more than usually introspective as the year wanes. Dry leaves shift uncomfortably in the fall winds. In the Lord of the Rings calendar, Frodo has sailed to the west. In the church calendar, we have passed All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, known in this part of the world as the Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos—a celebration of the lives of ancestors.

And now the Christmas lights are going up! There’s a reason winter holidays include bright lights, candles, scarlet and gold. It’s time to lay out the manger scenes, hang up the stockings, and celebrate birth rather than death.

After getting Blackness Tower turned in to Juno Books, in June—ON TIME, you will note—I throttled back over the summer and actually read some novels. Plus I set myself up a small page on Facebook, if any of y’all are there and would like to befriend me.

I also fulfilled my obligation to contribute a short story to a fantasy anthology titled The Dimension Next Door, to be published in 2008 by DAW Books. The theme of DND is the realms of reality that co-exist on another level within our own. Editors Kerrie Hughes and Martin Greenberg asked me to do a story set in Glastonbury, no doubt thinking of the alternate-dimensional quality of my novel Lucifer’s Crown.

The story is titled “The Avalon Psalter”. In it, I spun off the character of Magnus Anderson from Blackness Tower. He’s the American host of a British TV program called The Paranormal Files, who’s looking for verifiable proof of the paranormal. He’s one of my more over-the-top characters and is therefore fun to work with.

Using Magnus for Dimensions Next Door made up for the summer’s bad news/good news from Juno. Blackness Tower was originally scheduled for publication this October, then this November. But now it’s scheduled for March 2008. I’m not upset—the book will now be in mass-market paperback, not trade paperback, which will mean wider distribution and a lower cover price. Juno is still using the gorgeous cover, one that I like so much I have a poster of it on my dining room wall.

I’ve signed up for the famous—even notorious—Romantic Times convention which will be in Pittsburgh April 16-21, 2008. I’ll not only be promoting fantasy romance Blackness Tower, I’ve also joined a group of mystery writers, twelve women and one brave man. We are billed as Mystery Chix and a Rooster, and will be having a mixer with food and prizes to promote our books that “turn romance into a mysterious adventure!” (Well, isn’t romance always mysterious?) I’m also on a panel titled “Romantic Mysteries—a new subgenre?” (Well, no, I’ve been writing romance/mystery blends for years.)

A week after Romantic Times is Malice Domestic, a convention I’ve attended a dozen times—and a good thing, too, because I figure by then I’ll be wandering around with glazed eyes and a fixed smile. My mysteries? Oh yeah—The Secret Glass, The Murder Portrait, The Burning Hole....

Seriously, the third book in the Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron series, after The Secret Portrait (the revenge of Bonnie Prince Charlie) and The Murder Hole (on the trail of the Loch Ness monster) is The Burning Glass and appeared in September. In it, Jean and Alasdair face their most challenging adversary yet: The DaVinci Code! The reviews for Burning Glass have been gratifyingly positive:

“Authentic dialect, detailed descriptions of the castle and environs, and vivid characters recreate an area rich in history and legend. The tightly woven plot is certain to delight history fans with its dramatic collision of past and present.”  Publishers Weekly

“A little romance, a dash of mystery and a soupcon of history make a hearty dish.” Kirkus Reviews

“A good solid story with characters you come to care about. Carl also plays with expectations and often turns them on their heads surprising not only the characters but the reader. I loved this book for the characters, the ambiance, the history and culture of Scotland, and the ripping good story.” Gayle Surrette, Gumshoe Review

“If you took one of the better X-Files episodes and turned it into a mystery novel with more mature characters, you would end up with something very like The Burning Glass.” Mystery Book Reviews by Liz

“The third in a series, The Burning Glass is an entertaining mystery that can be read and enjoyed on its own—great for readers who are craving something light and fun.”  Becky Lejeune, Bookbitch.com

“An adventurous romp inside ancient old buildings full of Scottish lore and legend...a fine mystery.” Diana Risso, Romance Reviews Today

Now that the good reviews have hopefully stimulated sales, Five Star is interested in my doing another book in the series. Therefore, in volume four, The Charm Stone, Jean and Alasdair come to the United States, to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

I’ve visited Williamsburg many times and written about it twice. The first half of Shadows in Scarlet takes place there—a graduate student is history who is posing as an eighteenth-century woman meets a genuine eighteenth-century red-coated drop-dead gorgeous ghost, who asks her to reveal the truth behind his death. I also set a story in the colonial town in “A Mimicry of Mockingbirds”, recently reprinted in The Muse and Other Stories of History, Mystery, and Myth, where young lawyer named Thomas Jefferson solves a murder. (This story originally appeared in White House Pet Detectives and then in World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories IV.)

My husband and I spent the last week of October in Williamsburg. We attended a fascinating concert by Dean Shostak, who plays glass instruments including the harmonica, invented by Benjamin Franklin. We also went to a candlelight concert at the Governor’s Palace and took an after dark Ghosts and Legends tour. If they can’t keep the town as dark as it would actually have been in the eighteenth century, then they at least keep it darker than an often eyeball-searing modern city. And I tell you what, those old houses can be spooky at night, even if you’re not there on Halloween when shadowy shapes carrying lanterns are telling ghost stories.

The principle behind Colonial Williamsburg is “that the future may learn from the past”, a worthy goal if ever there was one. As I’ve often said, you don’t arrive here (in the present) without having been there (in the past). Every time we visit CW, we see fascinating historical interpretations, such as the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Virginia.

We also spent several hours walking around Yorktown, where the British surrendered to George Washington in 1781. We were there on a beautiful cool, clear Halloween morning, and were utterly delighted to see costumed children partying beside the cemetery at Grace Episcopal Church (originally built in 1697). Talk about Dia de los Muertos! And Grace Church has a labyrinth walk, just to bring us back around to Lucifer’s Crown and Blackness Tower.

The Muse and Other Stories of History, Mystery, and Myth was published in August by Delphi Books and got a lovely review from librarian Lesa Holstine:

“Lillian Stewart Carl's latest anthology is a magical escape into the past, the past of history and literature. Carl is adept at switching settings and language to fit the story. And, the paranormal elements that appear in some of the stories is just an added bonus. The Muse allows the author to explore a range of historical periods and literary classics. Carl has intriguing plots in which she challenges the reader to look at culture with a different eye.”

As well as starting The Charm Stone, I’m finishing The Vorkosigan Companion (which I’m co-editing with the aforementioned Martin H. Greenberg and his staff), a retrospective on the work of my good friend, science fiction writer Lois McMaster Bujold. (Her birthday, appropriately enough, is November 2nd, All Soul’s Day.) The Companion includes a variety of essays, a concordance, maps and a timeline, and original material from Lois. It will be published by Baen Books in 2009.

Sometime in the near future, Wildside will publish a trade paperback of The Murder Hole, as a companion to their paperback of The Secret Portrait. The Murder Hole will eventually be available along with two short stories, “Way Down in Egypt’s Land” and “The Diamonds of Golkonda”, in electronic versions from Fictionwise. (In the meantime, the two stories have been reprinted in The Muse etc.) The Secret Portrait will be reprinted as a mass market paperback by Harlequin/Worldwide’s Mystery Book Club, perhaps next year—although that edition will only be available to book club members.

And that pretty much brings us to the end of 2007. May you and yours have a glorious holiday season and a wonderful beginning to 2008!

For all my titles, including the story anthologies, please support your local independent booksellers. They would be glad to order anything they don’t have in stock. And don’t forget your local library, source of all good things.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER contact me through my website and I will remove you from my list.

My best wishes to you and your families for a healthy, happy end to 2006. May the spooks of Halloween make you laugh, may the special dinners of Thanksgiving fill your heart as well as your stomach, and may the blessings of Christmas go with you and yours into the next year.

Cheers, Lillian

Lillian Stewart Carl

http://www.lillianstewartcarl.com