Ankles, Short Stories and Oysters
13th November, 2007
Sigh! I seem to spend half my life apologising for my own inefficiency, and guess what? Here I go again! This time, though, there is a good reason for the lateness of this newest journal entry, as last month I managed to lay myself up with a sprained ankle. And it really was the silliest accident: I’d been working at my computer, sitting on the draughtsman’s (as opposed to typist’s) chair that I favour for work. Ankles were crossed and, naturally enough, went a bit numb after an hour or two. I then stood up, tried to walk into the kitchen and discovered – a little belatedly – that my feet had gone numb and I couldn’t feel or control them. Result – I went the proverbial purler on the floor (luckily my office is carpeted!) and whang went the left ankle, compounded by the fact that I was wearing wedge-heeled flipflops (no comments, please, about my fashion sense! 
). To cut a long story short(ish), I’ve been immersed in an extremely boring world of elastic bandages, anti-inflammatory painkillers, arnica tablets and a lot of very rude words, and am only now able to hop around for short distances with the aid of a walking stick.
Anyway, that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it! So again, apologies to the vast hordes of people (!!) who have been struggling to survive without a Louise Cooper journal update…. )) Seriously, this enforced immobility has made me realise how easy it is to take the fundamentals of good health and reasonable fitness for granted, and my heart goes out to anyone who doesn’t have that basic fortune.
Writing has, of necessity, taken a back seat lately, so I’m a little behind on schedules but starting to catch up. The fourth and final volume of the Mermaid Curse quartet is well on the way to being completed, and I must admit that I’m loving every minute of it. A lesson I learned long ago from a very fine author is that, if the writer of a story enjoys what they are writing, that enjoyment will show through in the finished work. If that’s the case – and I firmly believe it is – then I think that this new story will capture a few imaginations out there. I certainly hope so.
PUBLICATION NEWS
November 25th will see a ‘first’ for me, and one that I’m very excited about. A short story of mine, titled Friends, will be published in the Sunday Express, a major UK national weekly newspaper. It’s only 1,000 words long, and is part of a series the paper is running of brief tales with a slight ‘bite’ to them. I’m thrilled to be a part of this; it’s a great accolade. So I hope that my UK friends will all rush out and buy a copy of the Sunday Express on the 25th!
Further good news is that the new Mundania Press edition of The Master, third and final volume of the Time Master trilogy, should be out within a few weeks. As a lot of readers know, there have been some considerable delays in the planned publication schedule, but it seems now that the problems have been resolved. My standalone fantasy The King’s Demon will follow on Master‘s heels, and Mundania are looking to publish the Star Shadow and Chaos Gate trilogies, plus three more standalones – Sacrament of Night, Our Lady of the Snow and The Summer Witch - by the end of 2008. I’m anticipating a lot of proofreading! But it’ll be worth it, as I think anyone who has bought one of Mundania’s editions will agree.
And last but not least, starting next year there will a French language edition of the Chaos Gate trilogy! The lovely guys at Bragelonne, who scored a hit with their editions of Time Master, have now bought the sequel, and Strann, Karuth, Tirand – and, of course, Tarod and Yandros – will, I hope, make themselves known to a whole new readership. I’ll post publication dates when they’ve been finalised.
Here in Cornwall the oyster season has just begun, and the event was marked by the four-day annual Oyster Festival in Falmouth. The Festival is a wonderful occasion, with seafood cookery and marquees hosting arts, crafts and local history, as well as a fabulous selection of Cornish produce; including, of course, oysters galore. The Falmouth oyster fleet is now the only one in Europe that harvests entirely without engine power of any kind, and the sight of the beautiful and gracious working boats sailing out to their work is one to remember. Our shanty group, Falmouth Shout, sang to entertain the crowd on the final day. I just wish I hadn’t forgotten that tapping one’s foot in time to the songs is not advisable with an injured ankle…
Oh, yes.. and Simba’s blog. Well, I did talk to him about it, and he thinks it’s an excellent idea. He doesn’t want to call it a ‘blog’, though, as that rhymes with ‘dog’, and Simba and dogs don’t mix all that well. So because he’s a cat, he wants to call it a ‘blat’. Who am I to argue? The only problem I have now is pinning him down to SAY something, as the weather is still very mild and he’s spending most of his time having fun outside. And now that the daylight hours are much fewer… well, have you ever tried to find an energetic black cat in a dark garden? Then you know what I mean…
That’s it for now – and I really WILL try not to leave it so long next time!
Best to all,
Louise