At Least This Explains All The Cat T-Shirts

[Ellimist]

Cat o' nine tails

According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in some Spanish-speaking regions they are said to have seven lives while in Turkish and Arabic traditions the number of lives is six.

[Ellimist]

But for really real, maybe it's not a coincidence that three numbers were mentioned in Hazel's post (5-27-12). Only thing I could find on the net was some BS about the apocalypse. OK, maybe it is a coincidence.

Hrm... Maybe. But 27 is 11011 in binary, so...

I'm betting on January 10th, 2011.

[CpVb006]

"publishers," plural? Does this mean he's still looking for a publisher (singular) yet?

I don't really love the sound of this . : [

At least in terms of "wanting to get the book in my hands as soon as possible".

[po-m]

Hrm... Maybe. But 27 is 11011 in binary, so...

I'm betting on January 10th, 2011.

My mind. has. been. blown.

[heartbreak]

The first post in the OR forum was exactly 8 months prior to OR's release.

[kaseycarpenter]

I don't really love the sound of this . : [

At least in terms of "wanting to get the book in my hands as soon as possible".

In re: "publisherS" - This should be taken with a grain of salt.

Think about it, a 27 volume piece? Granted MZD has some street cred now, but this is still a tall order for any publisher, especially since we are officially entering a large-tome drought (I blame Twitter and booksellers who concern themselves with antithetical nomenclature like "titles-per-foot"). Or are we?

themillions[dot]com/2010/09/is-big-back.html/

But I digress...

Remember that HoL was rejected by over 30 publishers, and while it had problems (debut author, 700+ pages, typesetting nightmares, overall complexity of the book that alienates 80% of the population - fine for us fans, bad for publishing's path-of-least-resistance business model) the old mantra won out: good writing wins every time. These will get published.

When I was gathering perspectives for the interview, the editor for HoL and OR was asking ME what the upcoming news was about. I/we know now that this is because the news was that a manuscript was to be delivered, i.e shopped, likely giving Pantheon the right of first refusal.

MZD is, as I laughingly observed, either "raising the bar" or seeing how high of a hurdle he can set for publishers everywhere.

You can bet that even if King, Patterson, or Franzen were to come up with such an ambitious piece of publishing, their respective agents would realize the unique needs and limitations of such a project and would already start earmarking the MSS for specific publishers.

If I were MZD, that would be what I want my agent to do. Publishing, or in fact any business these days, tends to suffer from a sort of retrograde amnesia that can be expressed by, "what have you done for me lately."

Caveat: this is MY speculation, and as far as I can tell, Pantheon has been nothing but good to MZD. Still, we are talking 27 volumes.

Counterpoint: all it takes is two interested partied to start an auction. Why shouldn't MZD see the maximum monetary value for his work? Shop it around.

Besides, the process, whether it is with one or among several potential suitors, is essentially the same length of time. Maybe another week or two tops by virtue of having to juggle multiple schedules. MZd and his agent will do what is best for "The "

[ /rant]

[po-m]

I hope you're right about that.

In re: "publisherS" - This should be taken with a grain of salt.

Likewise, we should take the "27 volumes" part with a grain of salt. I think we're all jumping to the conclusion that volume=thick, luscious novel, but he has given us no reason to think that. In fact, he himself said that he's been enamored with the concise language of poetry lately. I'm more of the mindset that volume=short, sexy 'zine, to be released in installments.

[Distilled]

Another one? Can't he hold off a few days? I've not even finished HoL yet.


(I know, my shame is deep)

[BoneCo]

I'm more of the mindset that volume=short, sexy 'zine, to be released in installments.

That was my interpretation too. The depth of MZD's work is such that it requires an enormous investment of time to produce relatively few pages. HoL took 10 years. OR was 6 years writing 10 hours a day, 6 days a week (or something like that - see various interviews). Personally, I think I'd be disappointed if he'd written five novel-sized chunks of text in 4 years.

Of course some HIGHLY CREDIBLE authors can do that. Stephenie Meyer, for example.




Also hi everybody.

[g@rp]

"publishers," plural? Does this mean he's still looking for a publisher (singular) yet?

Just a thought, considering the first "quote" (but is it a quote ?) on tweeter and facebook.
And if we were the publishers ?
By retweeting, and relaying the link of the facebook status ?
Could be possible... (readers were part of - we were there...)
Or not.

[Typhonae]

Hidden in that new interview...

You can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family.
You allways hurt the ones you love.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Tigers everywhere.

I take it, HoL, OR, T50YS, and TF?

[g@rp]

Hidden in that new interview...

You can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family.
You allways hurt the ones you love.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Tigers everywhere.

I take it, HoL, OR, T50YS, and TF?

Well seen !

But there's something else wich seems to be, well, strange ?

These days I’m up at 5:22 AM

5:22 ??
Why not 23 or 30 ?

[Typhonae]

A little over an hour before moonset, so it wouldn't be that. I'd have to say he just likes getting an early start on his long days of crafting whatever is in his mind.

[BoneCo]

These days I'm up at 5:22 AM

5:22 = ratio of volumes sent to publisher to those not. 27 volumes - 5 volumes = 22 volumes

Or maybe he just wakes up at 5:22 am.

[Huh?]

Or 5+2+2=9*3=27...