In the city of Iravati, on the world of Skardu. . .

[rolanni]

. . .there lived a scholar who had three daughters, and they were the light and comfort of his elder years.

A reader stopped me after a panel at some con or ‘nother in order to tell me what was wrong with “Veil of the Dancer.”* The essence of their complaint was that it was written in “fairy tale” language and yet it wasn’t a fairy tale.

I told them I thought that was one of the story’s strengths.

No.  Authors, according to this earnest young person, aren’t supposed to “mislead” readers.

…and here I thought that was my job.

In any case! Quiet Knives (including “Veil of the Dancer,” and the title story)  and With Stars Underfoot (including “This House,” and “Lord of the Dance”) — Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Numbers 9 and 10, respectively — have today been uploaded to Smashwords.  There remain only 13 more chapbooks and a novel to process.

In other news, Mozart has this morning been out to Deepest Unity, braving yaks and chickens, and sheep the size of Colorado in order to see his stylist.  He is now returned, and sporting the Summer Shorts.  He looks. . .adorable, that’s the word.  Adorable.

Many thanks to everyone who weighed in on databases!  I am much enlightened, and more than ever determined not to enlist as a database programmer in my twilight years.

Me and the yellow pad are headed for the couch, now.

Hope everyone has a pleasant evening.

——
*Why do people do this? Do they think I’m going to rewrite the story, or recall all the magazines/chapbooks/webpages in which the offending narrative appears?  Or — what, exactly?

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

Comments

[micheledear.livejournal.com]

You know, one of the things I love about your books, your stories, your tales, your fables.... There is always in them a sense of you and Steve, the which I truly adore, but also there is a different flavor to each character's viewpoint. A "characteristic" flavor, if you will.

This is one of the things that really draws me to your stories - the way the characters are different, and break the box, and show me yet another way to be human, to live, to love, to grow, etc...

The theme music in my head that goes with each character is like that... Different for everyone, with underlying themes, but until Quiet Knoves, I didn't really KNOW why her theme music was the way it was, and suddenly it all made sense.

I thought her origin story was beautiful and true to her, and I really appreciate the vast array of beingness that you bring to the page for us. In some cases the "fairy tale" rings quite a bit truer to life than anything else.

As for that reader, I suspect she is merely inexperienced in reading, and perhaps, also in living or loving or growing... So, she can look outside the shattered box shards and learn something, or she can crawl back into the ruins and pretend she never saw anything. Either way it's really up to her.

Your job is to do YOUR job. Which you do beautifully. If she doesn't like it, she can go back to reading Barbara Cartland (no offense, I went through a phase where I loved her books).

I am rambling. But I think I managed to make my point in there somewhere. This is why writing is not MY job. ;)