Have I mentioned lately that I heart my agent?

Also, speaking of queens, check out this article about the mysterious snake image that has appeared in a portrait of Elizabeth I as the painting has aged. Somebody needs to write a book about that.

Short version: postapocalyptic dystopian SF YA televised Battle Royale with a gloss of the Minotaur myth (kids given as sacrificial tribute to the powerful central city). Here’s what Collins says about her inspiration for the book, in this interview (PDF):

A significant influence would have to be the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The myth tells how in punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they were thrown in the Labyrinth and devoured by the monstrous Minotaur.

Even as a kid, I could appreciate how ruthless this was. Crete was sending a very clear message: “Mess with us and we’ll do something worse than kill you. We’ll kill your children.” And the thing is, it was allowed; the parents sat by powerless to stop it. Theseus, who was the son of the king, volunteered to go. I guess in her own way, Katniss is a futuristic Theseus.

In keeping with the classical roots, I send my tributes into an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment. The world of Panem, particularly the Capitol, is loaded with Roman references. Panem itself comes from the expression “Panem et Circenses” which translates into “Bread and Circuses.”

The audiences for both the Roman games and reality TV are almost characters in themselves. They can respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination.

I was channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage when Katniss’s story came to me. One night I’m sitting there flipping around and on one channel there’s a group of young people competing for, I don’t know, money maybe? And on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting an actual war. And I was tired, and the lines began to blur in this very unsettling way, and I thought of this story.

Unsurprisingly, I’m fascinated by the way Collins adapted the Labyrinth myth to suit a futuristic SF setting. But I also have to compliment this book for being possibly the best book ever to read while muzzy-headed. I don’t mean that as any kind of slam on the book at all — it’s marvelously cleanly written and the balance Collins achieves between suspense and necessary exposition is perfect. And then, of course, there’s the inescapable drama of the A-plot. I know I keep talking about readerly pleasure, but it’s kind of hard to underestimate the narrative drive inherent in a Battle Royale plot, particularly a Battle Royale plot with a romantic subplot. The romance is the only part of the book that seemed at all predictable to me — the plot machinery is less well camouflaged. (Still Team Peeta all the way, though.)

Speaking of readerly pleasure: The Hunger Games has three recalls on it in the UT library system. It came out nearly a year and a half ago.

… and speaking of readerly pleasure deferred, UPS just delivered Catching Fire (book two in the series, not on Kindle). But I really, really need to get back to work. Sigh.

Last week, a box of real, true, honest-to-god hardback copies of Alcestis appeared at my house. My lovely editor Katie had told me that the final copies were printed before Christmas, but I didn’t know how long mine would take to arrive. My official publication date is February 1, and with the holidays and all, I didn’t know when to expect them.

I was in Philly last week for MLA — a trip that went remarkably smoothly, despite the whole Detroit underwear-bomber fiasco the week before — so I made T. wait to open the box until I got home. And then there was a lot of jumping around and squealing, because seriously, these are some GORGEOUS books. Everyone at Soho did such a wonderful job! T. and I did an impromptu photoshoot up in our attic just now so I could share the joy. (See also this outtake, which I just posted on Twitter.)

Here’s a closer shot of the book itself:

I can’t believe that February 1 is less than a month away! And that means we’re also just barely a month away from my book launch party. It’ll be held on Sunday, February 7, at 3 pm at BookPeople in Austin (6th & Lamar). There will be food and drink and a bit of reading (or more, if requested) and hopefully lots of general merriment. I’m so thrilled to have a get-together with all my Austin people who have seen this book go from a stack of ms. pages in my first workshop at UT to, well, what you see in the photos above. And if you’re reading this blog post, I hope you’ll come, too! This will definitely be a the-more-the-merrier kind of event.

I’ll be posting more about the book party soon, as well as other promotional things as my publication date gets even closer. I may even try to post here every day until then — which would be shocking, as anybody who’s been reading this blog since its beginning knows! But this whole weird delightful process of getting a book published is leaving me with lots to say.

I’m also going to be redesigning my website a bit in anticipation of February. If you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see here, do let me know! I do have a few fun little things related to Alcestis that I’ll put up — kind of like DVD extras. But I welcome other ideas, too. What would you like to know about Alcestis?

In Norman’s basement

Originally uploaded by Katharine B.

I spent last week in Provincetown, participating in a workshop on historical research and writing at the new Norman Mailer Writers Colony. We had our classes in Mailer’s house, and as you can see, we also had a few non-class-like events there. This photo illustrates the conclusion of one long dinner party — we all ended up in the basement and my new friend Jesse taught me how to punch. Any bad form on display in this photo is my fault, not his. (I was thinking it over and realized that I’ve never actually punched anything, or anyone, in my life. I took a self-defense class in college, I broke a board with my hand, but in real life I’ve been lucky enough never to have to go beyond the play-punch.) The last night we were there, the tide was so high that the bay water was slapping halfway up the deck stairs.

Anyway: Provincetown was wonderful, chilly and damp and sandy and full of older men with neatly shaved heads. The workshop was wonderful — Doug Brinkley led it, and we discussed the state of publishing (eeek), our own current projects, and many wonderful books. I was very grateful for a reason to re-read In Cold Blood.

While I was there I revised the outline for my next project, the Mt. Holyoke novel. Before going to P-town, I stopped in South Hadley and spent a week in the archive reading letters written by girls to their families in the 1890s and looking at their old photos, all dark teal with time. I found some great, strange material and only hit one major my-ideas-vs.-reality snag, which was easy to unsnarl. I’ve spent a lot of time with visiting researchers at the Ransom Center, but I’ve never been a visiting researcher before, either — kind of an odd shift.

Now I’m back in Austin. Insert obligatory moaning about the heat here. (Seriously, it was 106 today. Unacceptable, Texas!) I’m doing my best to plan my fall syllabus, dive back into dissertation work, and keep poking at the novel all at the same time. Also to watch silly movies with T. and drink my weight in Reed’s Extra Ginger Ale.

On a happier note, my galley proofs arrived today. They look BEAUTIFUL. (We’ll see if I’m still saying that after several hours of poring over them.)

T. sent me an email after FedEx came that said: “Your book is here.” Now it actually looks like a book — it’s not just the same old Word document in yet another iteration. I’m almost hesitant to start marking it up. Except that it has to be back with Soho by May 1. So I guess I’d better get started!

‘Alcestis’ cover!

Originally uploaded by Katharine B.

I last updated here on February 7. Since then, we’ve moved to a new house, with beautiful front and back porches, actual amenities — I can do laundry in my own house! — and a spiral staircase up to a little attic that’s perfect for reading, or, if you’re a cat, running around like crazy.

Then I went to the Dickens Project Winter Conference, at Vanderbilt, which involved a marathon day of panels. My paper was on modal verbs in ‘Persuasion,’ because I am a geek. And then I came home and started unpacking again. I just finished organizing my books a few days ago.

Meanwhile all sorts of things have been happening on the book front — blurb-begging, copyedit-reviewing, permission-seeking. Also, author-photo-taking. And, finally, cover-displaying! This is the final version of the cover design for my novel. I am absolutely thrilled with it, as is everybody else involved. My publication date is February 2010, and now that February 2009 is almost over, I feel like it’s really happening. Less than a year, and it’ll be on the shelves.

View from Hobart Bluff

Originally uploaded by Katharine B.

Grizzly Peak was still closed by snow when we went to Oregon earlier this month, so we hiked at Hobart Bluff instead. It’s not as beautiful a hike as Grizzly, but the view was all right. It was about forty degrees on the top of the bluff and windy as hell; it’s ninety-eight in Austin now. I’m wilting.

I’ll be going to Santa Cruz for the 2008 Dickens Universe in late July. I hear the mornings are cool there.

A brief recap of the writing I did this year:

• Short stories completed: “Things that make one’s heart beat faster” (sold to LCRW); “Selected letters …”; “Daphne”
• Short stories drafted: “The Former Hero”; “Julia Caesaris”; “Lady Emma Hamilton as Charity”
• Novels completed: Novel #2 (once it’s gone out to editors, I may even stop being so overly cautious about using its content-revealing title — shocking, I know)
• Novels worked on: Borne (revision); The White Silk Tent (gathering and editing memoir materials)

Not bad, considering that only four months of the year were officially devoted to writing, as I revised novel #2 for my degree. This year, I want to: finish revising Borne; finish the short stories currently in draft form; and work on an outline for The White Silk Tent. If I can write a few new short stories, that would be a bonus. Tonight my plan is to dig out my sheaf of old notes on Borne and work on outlining more revision ideas.

I’ve just started working on a new short-short for an upcoming reading, too — it should be January 25, at Intellectual Property. More details about this when I have them.

The semester starts in one week — I’ll try not to disappear completely. At the very least, I’ll post monthly writing updates/round-ups here, along with any news on the publishing front, and I’ll try to make my posts much more frequent than that.