Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2007-04-03 08:39:00
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Ha'Penny Cover
I have finished the proof and emailed it off, there really wasn't much, but a couple of things I'm glad I caught, as well as changing all three instances of Sevenoaks to Maidstone.

And as a reward this morning, the Ha'Penny cover. What do you think?

Also Farthing review in the Globe and Mail. I'm slightly offended that they made up an extended version of a first name for me -- and it's not even right. Why do people want to do this? "Jo" is only two letters, how hard can it be to get right? Still, it's a very good review. Silly side thought: I wonder if it will help with our Immigration application (sloooowly grinding its way through the process) if I tell them I'm reviewed as Canadian in the Globe and Mail?

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[info]hobbitbabe
2007-04-03 12:58 pm UTC (link)
"One of the best speculative works produced in years"? Wow. I'm so bummed that even though I forgot to cancel Saturday's Globe delivery, it had vanished before I got home Sunday night. I always pull out that Books section first, and if it isn't too messy with cryptic crossword attempts after I'm done with it I give it to P who doesn't get the Globe.

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 01:43 pm UTC (link)
Ah, of course, you actually regularly read it. How often do they review SF?

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[info]stevenagy
2007-04-03 01:07 pm UTC (link)
It's a nice cover. Seems a lot brighter than Farthing. A reflection of the material?

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 01:46 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps not.

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[info]mrissa
2007-04-03 01:24 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I like that cover a lot. It goes with the Farthing cover without being hard to distinguish from across the bookstore.

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[info]kip_w
2007-04-03 01:36 pm UTC (link)
Good-looking cover. The photo looks to me like one of a small set of high-resolution color shots from the 40s that was linked from the side column in "Making Light." (Then again, there must be thousands of photos that look like that.)

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 01:40 pm UTC (link)
No there aren't, and yes that's exactly what it is. And I looked at those photos from the ML link while I was writing the book, which is how this comes to be simultaneously an authentic photo from 1949 and a scene from the novel.

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[info]carandol
2007-04-03 04:35 pm UTC (link)
Nice cover! I do have a documentary on DVD called "Hitler in Colour", about life in the Third Reich, shown entirely in archival colour film, which I thought might be useful watching for writing volume 3, but sadly it's a Region 2 DVD, so probably wouldn't work in Canada. They also did "Britain at War in Colour" and "D-Day in Colour", maybe they're available in Canadian versions too.

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[info]aranel
2007-04-03 11:35 pm UTC (link)
Most laptops that contain DVD players will allow you to switch the region of DVD you are watching a limited number of times before it becomes fixed forevermore.

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[info]sistercoyote
2007-04-03 01:39 pm UTC (link)
Speaking as another Jo, people insist on making my name longer as well. Somewhere there is this mind-set that "Jo" has to be short for something.

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[info]beamjockey
2007-04-06 12:07 am UTC (link)
It's short for "Comet Jo."

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Access for J-O type people only.
[info]papersky
2007-04-06 10:46 am UTC (link)
Actually it's short for Bluejo.

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[info]embryomystic
2007-04-06 03:44 pm UTC (link)
I always think of it as Scots jo, as in, 'the gowans are gay, ma jo'.

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[info]selkie_b
2007-04-03 01:55 pm UTC (link)
Oh great cover! I love it when you can get a sense of place just by looking at the book. I'm a fan of appropriate cover-art :)

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[info]janetmk
2007-04-03 02:57 pm UTC (link)
Yay! Wonderful review.

The cover is fine and does a good job of visually tieing Ha'penny to Farthing. I prefer the Farthing cover slightly because of its simpler scene.

Perhaps the reviewer wanted to expand your name in order to show that you are a woman and somehow had Joanna Russ at the back of her mind when she did so.





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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 03:29 pm UTC (link)
That's what I thought, they want to stress the fact that I'm female by using a definitely female version of my name. But why? Even if it mattered, that's why we have gendered pronouns, surely?

I like the colours of this one better.

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[info]yhlee
2007-04-03 03:08 pm UTC (link)
That's a really lovely cover.

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[info]sartorias
2007-04-03 03:13 pm UTC (link)
That's a very effective cover.

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[info]rivka
2007-04-03 03:17 pm UTC (link)
I love the Ha'penny cover!

And wow, "one of the best speculative works produced in years." That's got to be a good feeling. (I agree, of course!)

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 03:31 pm UTC (link)
*blush*

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[info]txanne
2007-04-03 04:43 pm UTC (link)
Beautiful! Less immediately creepy than Farthing, so of course it's even creepier with lengthy exposure. If that makes sense.

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[info]adrian_turtle
2007-04-03 05:16 pm UTC (link)
It's a beautiful cover, and I like the way the image refers to _Farthing_. I suppose all your covers should mention _Tooth and Claw_ and the World Fantasy Award, to draw in all those readers who liked it and are looking for something similar...

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[info]sylvia_rachel
2007-04-03 05:17 pm UTC (link)
The cover is great :)

The Globe review is great, too -- although, having just this past week read (well, "devoured" would be a better word actually) Farthing, of course I noticed all the things the reviewer got wrong, including the year in which it's set, and the spelling of David's surname in at least one instance (I also thought "icy" was an unnecessarily flattering descriptor for Lady Eversley...); and didn't you find it odd that s/he completely left out Carmichael? Perhaps there was something about Carmichael in the review and the section editor cut it out to save print inches ...

Would this be a good venue for telling you how absolutely stunning and brilliant I think Farthing is? Really, I was blown away. I mean, I knew it wasn't really going to be a standard-issue Sayers-style mystery, but the way it simultaneously is and isn't that, and the way it all just gets more and more horrible ... Oh my. I almost never buy books on spec; I buy the ones I know I'm going to read over and over. I will definitely be buying this one, and the next one, and the one after that.

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 06:41 pm UTC (link)
Thank you, I'm really glad you liked it, and I hope it holds up to the re-reading.

I've noticed other reviewers having trouble summarising it because of the two threads -- something you'd think they'd have run across before, but never mind. Poor Carmichael, he has a lot to put up with without being left out of reviews!

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[info]sylvia_rachel
2007-04-03 07:18 pm UTC (link)
Which is too bad, because you could draw such fascinating parallels between the two threads.

Another thing that particularly impressed me, by the way, was the way you pull off the two distinct voices -- Lucy always sounds like Lucy, and Carmichael is just as solidly in character. I was rather afraid of what might happen to C at the end, because of his not being in the first person; what does happen is both better and worse ...

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[info]tournevis
2007-04-03 05:57 pm UTC (link)
Very very nice.

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[info]rachelmanija
2007-04-03 06:10 pm UTC (link)
I like the cover a lot. It's striking and gets the point across.

And yes, I think the review might be useful, or at least is worth submitting, with a highlight, whenever you submit the rest of the packet.

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[info]papersky
2007-04-03 06:44 pm UTC (link)
My editor reads my LJ, which saves time!

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[info]mjlayman
2007-04-03 09:56 pm UTC (link)
Great cover, links to Farthing! And that's an excellent review, other than your expanded name.

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[info]smofbabe
2007-04-04 12:04 am UTC (link)
Nice cover, same flavour as FARTHING without being a duplicate.

The Globe and Mail review is certainly glowing (and well deserved) but even though I'm not usually a fanatic about spoilers, I think this review went a little overboard!

I'm slightly offended that they made up an extended version of a first name for me

My brother Jerry used to have this problem all the time in primary school: "Yes, I'm sure you *think* your real name is Jerry but go home and ask your mother what your real name is."

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[info]montoya
2007-04-04 05:38 am UTC (link)
Oh, I love that cover. What's interesting to me (although perhaps I'm just being idosyncratic) is that it looks less genre and more "literary", even though it's so similar to the Farthing cover.

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[info]papersky
2007-04-04 01:41 pm UTC (link)
I think they both look mainstream.

I don't think this has done any good with Farthing, judging idiosyncratically by what people at Amazon buy it with, but there you go.

I don't know what how they'll manage for the Half a Crown cover.

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[info]embryomystic
2007-04-06 03:46 pm UTC (link)
How odd and frustratingly presumptuous.

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