August again? So soon?

Almost a year ago this day, I sent out a Substack letter I’d begun in Paris at the start of the most exciting summer I think I’ve ever had: certainly the most peripatetic, which is really is saying something.

And that, I’m afraid, is the last you heard from me.

I would like to blame it on the fact that every time this year that I came up with a cool idea to pitch to my literary agent, she said, “Finish the novel, and then we’ll talk.”¹

I am proud to say that at the end of June, in a writing retreat back up in Maine at the House of Heart’s Desire (overlooking Eggemoggin Reach), I put the final period on the final sentence of a good draft of the first part² of City Year, and sent it to my agent - who went on a month-long sabbatical 3 days later, taking the ms. with her.³

My June 17th Facebook & Instagram post: It’s pouring in Maine. Perfect writing weather. #writingretreat

Achieving the massive revision on City Year took regular monthly retreats at The Monastery (Kendall’s austere house in NJ). I cheated on the novel with only one short story, and a Sekrit Collaboration I hope to be able to reveal to you soon . . . and I was invited to write the Introduction to the elegant French translation of E. R. Eddison’s MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES for les Editions Callidor.

— Toi et moi, dit-il, premiers des enfants des hommes, contemplons à présent de nos yeux vivants le pays fabuleux de Zimiamvie. Est-ce vrai, crois-tu, ce que les philosophes nous enseignent de ce pays bienheureux : que nul pied de mortel ne peut le fouler, hors les âmes bienheureuses qui l’habitent, ces morts qui nous ont quittés […] ?
— Qui sait ? répondit Brandoch Daha, posant son menton sur sa main et contemplant le sud comme en un rêve. Qui dira qu’il sait ?"

En 1935, Eddison fait paraître MAÎTRESSE DES MAÎTRESSES, et décide justement de faire de la Zimiamvie le théâtre de son nouveau récit de fantasy. Le résultat ? Un chef-d'œuvre de fantasy et de style. Lequel chef-d'œuvre paraîtra pour la première fois en français.

I knew I couldn’t make the January deadline alone, so I begged an old friend to write it with me: the remarkably gifted writer Michael Swanwick, who I happen to know is an even bigger Eddison fan than I am. We wrote it as a “Conversation” - a real one! - and it was exciting and fun and came out better than I could have done alone.

There was some travel, of course. In March Delia & I went to Minneapolis to see our friend Liz Duffy Adams’ witty, sexy, moving Shakespeare/Marlowe⁴ play BORN WITH TEETH at the Guthrie Theater - with the cast who had originated it last year at the Alley Theater in Houston (where we saw the premiere!).

Fresh from its critically acclaimed world premiere at Alley Theatre, BORN WITH TEETH cleverly imagines a backbar meeting between two writing greats: Kit Marlowe and William Shakespeare. #GuthrieBornWithTeeth

Yes, we have become total fangirls of Matthew Amendt (Kit) and Dylan Godwin (Will). So in February/March 2024 we will be in Sarasota, Florida (where I have lots of family now) to see them doing the show again, at the historic Asolo Theater. (Sadly, we are missing the September Bay Area production at the Aurora Theater. Different cast & director; Liz is out there rehearsing with them right now.) DON’T MISS IT. Though if you must, digital & hard copies of the script are available here.

So anyway . . . wanna hang out?

THURSDAY AUGUST 17th, 7:00 p.m. EST

Did you read Choose Your Own Adventure books when you were a kid? Kyle Cassidy did, and then grew up to be friends with a writer, Ellen Kushner, who penned five of them. Now he's hosting this online event:⁵

***Join our Choose Your Own Adventure Party!!!*** (on Zoom) with 5 time Choose Your Own Adventure writer Ellen Kushner! It's just a hang-out to hear about the behind-the-scenes sausage making of some of the books that made us with Ellen and possibly some other folks from CYOA. Feel free to share with trusted friends. August 17, 7pm New York City time.

Be there or turn to page 79.

Free tickets via Eventbrite.

JESSICA CAMPION SHORT STORY: discount ebook August 16th

City Year is about Alec-from-Swordspoint’s bastard daughter, the angriest teenager in the world. We met her first in the novel I wrote with Delia Sherman, The Fall of the Kings, as a trickster in the prime of life.⁶ Everyone immediately wanted a novel about her, but adult tricksters are miserable POV characters. I did manage a short story, though, called “Honored Guest,” for Terri Windling & Ellen Datlow’s superb anthology of trickster tales, The Coyote Road. This Weds., August 16th only, the book will be available for $1.99 on ebook platforms. Meanwhile, you can read Terri’s lovely introduction to trickster myth and magic on OpenRoad.

SocMed

I hate all there is to hate about Current Twitter - but I love the way my writing community can communicate on it (and, dammit, I spent years growing my Followers list!!), so I plan to be there til they turn the lights out.⁷ Meanwhile, though, I’ve established a new basecamp on BlueSky. You can find me here.

So much more to tell you! Let me know in Comments what you’d particularly like to hear about, if you will.

I do plan to become a regular correspondant once more, and I wanted to keep this short - so that’s a good place to stop.

Your erratic but essentially decent friend,

Ellen

1. I doubt it’s really the reason, but I would still like to blame it on that.

2. Since the “first part” clocks in at 118,000 words, which is longer than any book I have ever written solo, I think I should get credit for having finished something.

3. One fine day (may it be soon!) a letter will appear in my In Box, telling me whether she thinks it’s ready to send out on submission to publishers.

4. The Slash there is not an accident.

5. My thanks to Terri Windling for the copy, which I stole from her Facebook page.

6. She does have a ship. But contrary to gossip, she is not a pirate captain. She is an international art dealer.

7. It’s not like Evil Melon is making any $$ offa me, right?