The code at Continental casinos is notoriously lax, sir

Yes, I’m reading the Chronicles of Wooster. Rereading, actually, thanks to Project Gutenberg. I first read them out of the public library when I was no doubt “too young” to do so. However, I was more than tall enough to get them down from the shelves, I could fit my entire given name, in cursive, on a library card, and my mother was on record with the librarian as stating that she didn’t give a damn’ what books the kid checked out, as long as she didn’t incur any late fees.

One of those rare and blessed cases in which everyone wins.

So, anyway, on the Nook — hight Paladin, which I think I forgot to report; who can pin down the reference for that? — is Right Ho, Jeeves, which I’m reading now (and from which I gain the Interesting Information that Bertie’s school friend Sipperly had at one time been trying to get himself engaged to Elizabeth Moon), and, in reserve, a collection of short stories, My Man Jeeves. I will, as time permits, peruse the lists to see if any more of the novels have been converted; I can see where they’re going to come in Very Handy in the coming months.

I think I may have also forgotten to report that I got my hair cut at the local posh salon, mostly to trim off the more egregious points and angles, and get the bangs out of the eyes so I’m not a danger on the roads. While I was there, I had a bottle of purple ink up-ended over my head. I’m not entirely purple, which I think would be a bit much, but I do have definite purple stripes. Which pleases me.

The young woman who took me in hand at the salon — and who was enthusiastically in favor of the purple — interestingly said, “Your haircut is too simple for who you are,” which may be so, but, given my Utter Lack of Talent in the fixing of my own hair may also be wise. Anyhow, interesting, as was the venue — a big open room with large windows and skylights, a few artfully worn oriental carpets scattered about a hardwood floor. Full length mirrors enclosed in wide floral antiqued frames, leaning casually against the wall. It looked nice, but was noisy as heck. They need draperies, or pennants or something to muffle the racket of hairdryers and voices.

In other Interesting News, Steve lets me know that we have this moment in time 333 pledges for signed copies of Ghost Ship. This means we have surpassed the lower limit, and that there Will Be Signed Books. As there is no upper limit, we are continuing to take pledges (not orders — orders come later; we’ll tell you when) until April 1. At that time, we will send The Number to Uncle Hugo’s. Uncle Hugo’s will speak with Baen and a print-run for signed books will be set.

People have asked when Ghost Ship will be published — that would be August first-ish.

People have asked what Ghost Ship is about — it is the sequel to I Dare in the Agent of Change Sequence and the sequel to Saltation in the Theo Waitley Sequence.

People have worried that non-US residents will not be able to order books. Non-US residents may of course order books, when the time comes to order. Uncle Hugo’s ships worldwide. When the order webpage goes live, it will have a postage component. I cannot tell you what the postage will be at this time (and neither can Uncle Hugo’s) because. . .wait for it. . .Ghost Ship hasn’t been printed yet and therefore no one knows how much it weighs.

If you’re coming late to the party, and want to pledge for a first-run hardcover copy of Ghost Ship signed by both authors, instructions for doing so are here

And, now, “Intelligent Design” having passed out of my hands and into Steve’s, it’s time for me to do some chores.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

For autopope, and others who may be too shy to ask

Down in the comments of the last post, autopope asks the musical question:

Speaking of the Liaden books, is there any chance you can do a blog post with a suggested reading order?

There's a list of suggested reading orders here. Yes, that's right -- plural orders. And it's worth noting that some readers have made their own determination of which order the books are best read in, for them.

There are a couple of reasons why there isn't One True Reading Order.

The first is that we're telling a really long, braided story as the plot-lines occur to us. I speak for Steve here as well as myself when I say we are not tidy writers. We get a lot of props for doing long-arc plotting, which are quite possibly not at all deserved. Of course, there's also the possibility that the back-brain knows exactly what it's doing and just hasn't bothered to tell the hired help.

The second reason is that we deliberately tried to make doors into the Universe at various points, so new readers didn't necessarily have to read umpty-leven books in order to find out if they liked what we were doing. "Doors" include Balance of Trade, Local Custom, Fledgling, Agent of Change, naturally. I'm aiming George to be another door -- aka a "side book" -- but we won't know if I've hit the mark until it's done.

I hear from readers that the Crystal books (Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon) take "a lot of dedication" and are not a good place to start. Some it seems, would like to expel them from the canon entirely. Baji-naji -- I've also heard from readers whose first exposure to the Liaden Universe(R) were the Crystal books and not only weren't harmed in the least, but went on to read the rest of the books with gusto.

I've also lately heard that it's. . .difficult for old fans to recommend that new fans start with Agent of Change because AoC is "too embarrassing." It is, I'll note, more than 20 years old, and doubtless showing its years. However, it is the Very First Book Ever Written in the Universe and if you are a reader who prefers to follow a series along as it was written, you sorta have to start there.

...I think that's probably sufficient confusion for one post.

Question? Ask and I'll do my humble best.