Whenever the trees are crying aloud, and ships are tossed at sea

[rolanni]

Slow-moving morning, here at the Cat Farm.

Mozart is dozing on the blanket-covered box at the kitchen-end of the hall.  Scrabble has mounted a watch in the window, and she's keeping a Very Close Eye on the bird feeders.  Especially the woodpecker block, which has been the center of a number of antics this morning.

Bird discursion:

I mean, I know woodpeckers aren't terribly bright.  By my observation, this usually works for them, because they don't tend to notice scary stuff.  But this morning, we have a visitor who can't figure out the chain from which the woodpecker feeder is suspended, and it's distracting him something terrible.  He'd come in, start whacking at the seeds, see the chain, and forget to eat, as he looked at This Strange (and Shiny) Device, first from one eye, then from the other.  It was sad, in an amusing sort of way.

He has finally seemed to have figured out that, if he hangs upside down from the bottom of the feeder-cage, he doesn't have to see the chain, and he can eat in peace.  Which is what he's doing now.

In publishing news. . .

For those who do not tweet, last evening it was Revealed that Carousel Sun (the sequel to Carousel Tides) will be published in early-ish 2014.

So!  This is what we now know about the Lee/Miller and Lee publication schedules for the next little while:

Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume I:  July 2013
Dragon Ship mass market: August 2013
Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey & Pern: August 2013
Trade Secret: November 2013
Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume II: January 2014
Carousel Sun: Early-ish 2014

From the hey, that's cool pile. . .

We hear from Madame the Agent, who gets her Locus before we get ours, that Necessity's Child has hit the Locus Bestselling Hardcover list at Number Two.  Not too shabby -- and you did it yourselves!  Well done, and thank you.

And! Under the topic Discussions Worth Having:

Kyle Cassidy, photographer extraordinaire, muses on pockets and women's clothes, here

. . .and there's a follow-up, here

This is a useful and thought-provoking discussion about what pockets (or the lack of pockets) says about autonomy.  Really worth a read.

Eye Candy:

Really interesting series of pictures of the remains of plane wrecks (all wrecks depicted are non-fatal) in remote places, right here.

In writing news:

Today! Is the day! That I will break 50K.  I know this because I'm only 172 words short of the goal as I start my work day.  It's nice to occasionally have some certainty in life.

* * *

Progress on Carousel Seas

49,828/100,000 words OR 49.83% complete

"You kill that shark?"

She raised disdainful eyebrows.  "Must you ask?"

"In fact, I don't have to ask.  I'm curious about your motivation."

Comments

[pedanther]

I hope I'm not being too presumptuous if I borrow this corner of the comment-space to report some Liad-related news that might be of interest to my fellow-commenters:

I've launched a blog in which I intend to chronicle my progress in re-reading every one of the novels and stories set in the Liaden Universe.

The actual re-reading isn't set to start for a while yet, due to Circumstances, but I've raised the shutters early to give interested bystanders an opportunity to put in their two cents about what order I should do it in. The pre-condition is that I've settled on "chronological order", but I'd welcome assistance in reaching a practicable definition of that term, particularly as regards the tangles and overlaps that occur during that period when Val Con, Pat Rin, and Theo are each off doing their own separate thing without reference to the others.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Wow -- that sounds like quite a project; not only reading them all, but reviewing them, and noting the expansion of the universe, too? Best of good luck with that.

Regarding "chronological order" in which you mean "internal chronology"...I see someone over in your blog opining that Fledgling happens before Agent of Change. Which, um...it doesn't.

There are a whole buncha reading order options over here: http://korval.com/publication-list/correct-reading-order/

Here's the internal chronology for the novels, from that page [with the addition, here, of Trade Secret, coming in November]:

Crystal Soldier
Crystal Dragon
Balance of Trade
[Trade Secret]
Local Custom
Scout’s Progress
Mouse and Dragon
Conflict of Honors
Agent of Change
Carpe Diem
Plan B
Fledgling
I Dare
Saltation
Ghost Ship
Necessity’s Child
Dragon Ship

[pedanther]

I don't know about reviewing as such, that being a skill in which I'm not much practiced. There's a reason I describe the project as "blogging my progress"; I'm going to try to have something to say about each thing I read, but there may be days when I can't come up with anything more interesting than "Well, that was a thing that happened".

(Another reason why there's a Phase 0 that involves engaging people in discussion about the shape of the project is that I'm kind of hoping there will turn out to be people interested enough to tag along, so that even if the posts are dull there might be something interesting going on in the comments.)

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Well, ya know, birds are tricky, and need careful watching, by an experienced cat!

In reference to the above comment, I'm voting for *internal* chronological order/order of occourence ...

[pedanther]

Well, yes. Is there another kind of chronological order?

But what I mean is, how ought I to achieve "order of occurrence" when faced with two novels that occur simultaneously? Or one novel that keeps jumping back and forth between "happening now" and "happening two novels ago"?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Publication chronological order is often resorted to. If reading in internal order, when faced with simultaneous or overlapping tales, perhaps the best approach is to simply admit that there is no good solution. Reading them alternately, or perhaps on adjoining screens, might seem to work, but most likely, one would discover that one's brain tends to single-thread, no matter how one attempts to split the difference. Of course, if you happen to be gifted with a multicore brain and matching sensors, please do feel free to indulge in simultaneous orgies of reading.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Heh. Many people use *chronilogical* order to mean *order of publication* .
As for nearly-simultaneously-occurring books ..... pick whichever has a slight edge? Flip a coin?
And I've considered flashback-sequences as interfering with chronological order, myself

[pedanther]

I have been seriously considering whether it would be a good idea to read the flashback chapter of "Misfits" separately from the rest, at the point it actually occurs.

For that matter, it would be possible to get the novels into something more like chronological order if I arranged them on a chapter-by-chapter basis instead of taking each novel as an indivisible lump.

The trouble is, the authors arranged the chapters in the order they're in for a reason; would I be damaging the reading experience if I re-shuffled them?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

For that matter, it would be possible to get the novels into something more like chronological order if I arranged them on a chapter-by-chapter basis instead of taking each novel as an indivisible lump.

The violence that would be done to story arcs, and character arcs, not to mention rhythm, reveals, and timing by dissecting the books and lining the chapters up chronologically. . .kind of makes me sick to my stomach, but that's just me.

What would be the point of that exercise?

Also curious about the perceived...inconvenience of flashbacks -- flashbacks also being used for a reason.

[pedanther]

I should say that I don't necessarily think this is a good idea, but it's a possible way of approaching chronological order and I wanted to make sure it got covered.

I wouldn't be considering it at all if this weren't a re-read; if I were reading the novels for the first time I would, without a second thought, take the story in the order and at the pace the authors chose to present it.

I'll drop the subject now. This is your space, after all, and making the host sick to her stomach is not the action of a good guest.

[thewol.livejournal.com]

Scrabble was watching "As the Birds Feed," a popular and long-running yard opera on CAT TV. Our lot favors "Birds of Our Yard."

While we're on the pocket thing, look at the differences between a woman's wallet and a man's -- Men carry billfolds for paper money and credit cards, and carry change in their pockets.Their billfolds are designed to fold flat and men's pants are specifically designed to accommodate them. If they carry checks at all, they'd just have one or two folded in their billfold and usually only write them for cash. Women's wallets are larger because they include a change purse (and often a checkbook) "all in one" and are thus usually too large to be conveniently carried in a pocket.

C.Tides

[nocal-kathyf.livejournal.com]

Hi, we went to Blind Beach near our home yesterday, which seemed appropriate since I am re-reading Carousel Tides. Also wore my blue c.t shirt. Lovely day. Great rocks and colorful round, smooth stones. Thought of you and Steve. Looking forward to November and Trade Secret and next year for Carousel Sun. Hurrah! More books from Lee and Miller are a great gift anytime.

Speaking of cats...

[barbinbandon.livejournal.com]

Thought this might amuse you.

http://screen.yahoo.com/big-cats-play-boxes-232639553.html

Union!!

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Very happy to hear that the Cats maintain their Union. Unfortunately for our country for most work that is not the case. The Cats are hard at work keeping an eye on the woodpeckers. At least one woodpecker is keeping an eye on that strange sparkly thingie and then not doing that while eating. Wondering if there's a bird Union. The birds are such ancient creatures that perhaps they have their entirely different customs/organizations. We know that they can fly in the air in huge flocks in patterns that remind us of schools of fish in the sea. Someone should look into that. Perhaps a paleontologist.

Thanks for the schedule of releases. that's always really welcome. and for the chronological order too.
And also for the gorgeous photos of plane wrecks in exotic out of the way locations. Very special. the planes seem to be attracted to bodies of water.

Woodpecker IQ

[ext-1788329.livejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Cardinals are no smarter.

We used to have one who had discovered the rear-view mirror on my VW Rabbit (which is how long ago that was). He was determined to peck teh daylights out of that other male Cardinal in there, and did so repeatedly until he would concuss himself and fall off the window ledge.

I wouldn't have minded so much except that apparently the concussion also caused his cloacal sphinchter to release... resulting in a chronic birdstreak down the door one cardinals-length aft of the mirror.