I just received this Christmas card from Ovsanna Arzoumanian, who has a number of lovely art pieces in the Orëska gallery. Enjoy!

Nightrunner Map still available. 18x24" facsimile of Lynn's working map, signed and numbered. Limited edition. http://www.sff.net/people/Lynn.Flewelling/market/m.maps.html

Paypal payments can be made to: lbflewelling@roadrunner.com

A while back the author of this scholarly paper sent me a copy, and now alert reader moyo_mo has given me a link to it. Very interesting reading! Poor Alec! ;-)

http://www.asianlang.mq.edu.au/japanese/documents/DialogueinTranslation_final.pdf

It's not too late to order Nightrunner goodies from my Cafe Press shop:
http://www.cafepress.com/flewelling

I have a wide variety of items, designed by Robert Place, from mugs to teeshirts, decals to mouse pads!

I had a relatively productive writing day today, part of which was describing the game of bakshi, which has existed since book one, with very little detail. I've always known it was played with gaming stones, sets of which can be as simple as a handful of pebbles or very elaborate and expensive carved semi precious stones. I know that it can be played on a formal table, or on a grid of some sort scratched into the dust or chalked on a floor. The point is to capture opponent's pieces, and to make different patterns which, as of today, are: serpents, spears, flowers, and snares.

And that's it for now. You'd think after all the money Seregil and his buddies have won at it, I'd have more information. C'mon boys, give Mom a hand!

Just turned in a proposal for a Nightrunner-based Tarot deck and book set, which I'm working on with acclaimed Tarot artist and scholar, Robert M. Place. It's an exciting project, tying the two together. The Tarot has been a lifelong influence, and certainly on my writing. The deck will include two Lovers cards, too: one with Nysander, Magyana, and Ylinestra, and one with Alec and Seregil.


He's already designed two sample cards:

Alec, as the Fool


Seregil as the Magician

I'm back from NYC, after a very productive weekend with the C-Squared guys, Charlie Spickler (screen writer/director) and Ed Morrill, producer (who greeted me at the airport with a sign: "Lynn McUnpronouncable" LOL) They're great guys and really want this project to do well. Charlie's a fan himself and is looking for ways to get as much of the story to screen as possible. I will tell you up front, getting it all in is simply impossible. Some things will have to be left out, some combined with other events. That's just the way it works. The hope is to preserve the backbone of the plot and the personalities of the characters. Charlie has committed to maintaining the relationship between Alec and Seregil at the level that I've intended--important, but not the main point of the story. There's actually very little of it in the first book at all. Seregil is being a gentleman and Alec is oblivious. ;-) So keep your fingers crossed and send us lots of virtual coffee.

L

This has been in the works for a while now, folks, and it's early days yet, but the first three Nightrunner books have been optioned for movies by independent film company C-Squared Pictures. The script for Luck is in the writing process at the moment. I'm not in charge of that, but the writer/director, Charlie Spickler, has been gracious enough to ask for my input, and I'm in New York meeting with him this week. That's all the details I can give you for the moment.

C-Squared:http://www.csquaredpictures.com/

How 'bout that? :-)

**Addendum: "Optioned" means that C-Squared has purchased the rights to make the books into movies, with the intention to do so.

**Addendum 2: It is currently up in the air as to whether this will come out as a movie or mini series. It's am awfully lot of story to try and pack into two hours. A mini series is more likely.

Seregil went down on one knee to huge them and give their heads a good scratching.

Starting a new book is like starting a three needle mitten. The first rows are awkward and prone to dropped stitches, tangles, and twists, But once you get past those, everything begins to pull together and take shape. I haven't reached that point yet with the new book. Still trying to keep those needles straight!

Despite myriad and ongoing distractions, 4800 wds into a new Nightrunner book, first of a two-book contract.

After a brief disappearance from Amazon.com, White Road is once again available, with a release date of May 25, 2010, which my editor informs me is the correct date for a June book.

So there you go! A month less than I thought. :-)

Finished the final rewrites today and have started the final read through to catch last nits and nats. Almost there! Nearly time for a new snippet, I think.

Lazy Sunday afternoon and I'm wondering if there are any twenty-something actors who'd fit as Seregil. (Always good to have something to fixate on when things are slow.) So many of the ones I've fixated on over the years are just plain too old now. So sad!

It just occurred to me, counting on my fingers, that Luck in the Shadows turns 13 this year. I may not be a best seller (yet) but my books stay in print and that's pretty darn good, not to mention all the foreign translations.

Battled a cold/con crud all week, but overall productive. Still waiting for edits from Madame Editor. Hopefully this week. In the meantime the old brain box has been cooperating on treatments for new books. Got one in the can, and ready to start the process for #2—which will be #7 of the NR series! Whoda thunk it?

Reading Patricia Briggs Blood Called now, and beginning to roll around possibilites for a paranormal series. Not really my area yet and would take some research. Maybe. Maybe not. Friend suricattus
puts me to shame with her multi tasking writing of more than one book at a time. I'm doing well to come up with ideas for two books at once.

Weather continues to be obscenely nice. Cool days, cold nights, lots of citrus in bloom. The dwarf Eureka lemon tree out back has lots of babies, some of which are over an inch long already. The pink lemon tree out front has lots, too but still small. The last batch turned black and fell off; fingers crossed for this one. My rosebushes are going gang busters. The water treatment for aphids is successful, so long as I keep ahead of them. I HATE chemicals. Still haven't tried the dish soap route. I don't really want to kill the little bastards; I just want them off.

Almost lost the koi pond pump but Dr. D saved the day and now the waterfall sounds like Niagara. All fish present and accounted for and healthy. Jackson, Emma, and Bosco are all fine. J's growth seems to be slowing a little but he's still a moose.

The official cover art is up on the Amazon.com site.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055359009X/ref=s9_sims_c2_s1_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0MHW5GZT83WK79XW3M5D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

The other day someone wrote to me, asking what magic smells like in my world, since I often mention smells. I've never been asked that before! :-)

I think I mentioned that the making of fire chips stinks, and of course Sebrahn's magic smells sweet. The magic used on Seregil in LITS stank bad enough to make Thero sick. In other places I simply mention that there is a smell, but leave it to the reader's imagination.

What do you think magic smells like?

The send button hath been pressed. White Road is off to Editorial Land. I am taking the day off.

Words 137, 708 and 137,709:

"The End"


And now it's polishing time, when all sorts of magical things happen!

Added: In answer to some questions below, no, this is not The End End, just the end of that story arc. My editor is all for me writing more in this series.