What's new in Marselis these days? Very little. Magnus is still sick. I'm still under the weather. The cats are still cute. Words still stick to my fingertips.
There is one fresh element, though. This week and the next I'm copy editing the Norwegian edition of A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I know I should be concentrating on Twistrose, but sometimes it's necessary to do some extra work to bring in some money.
Besides, A Game of Thrones is one of my favourite novels, so I quite enjoy it. I love the world Martin has created, I love the northernness of it, I love the sheer scale of the unfolding doom, and I adore the characters (though I often wish Martin were a little gentler with his literary offspring). I can't wait to see the HBO series that's airing sometime this spring.
Another nice thing about meticulously scouring Martin's (or rather, the translators') text for flaws, word for word, paragraph for paragraph, is that the construction work that binds it is revealed. Martin is a clever craftsman and a fine writer, yet even he must build his story with the same tools and material as everyone else.
Whether we're making a gothic cathedral or a ramshackle shed, writers need nails and screws and mortar. We all have to keep adding one bit to the next until we have a house.
And even the prettiest of castles have seams and construction scars to show for it. I find this most encouraging after a week of endless and rather frustrating construction work on particularly nut-and-bolt-heavy chapter of my book.
In other good news I recently found out that the sequel to the fabulous The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is out this March. Moreover, the next installment in my very favourite fantasy series, The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch, is rumoured to be released this spring, too: The Republic of Thieves . That one I've been craving for a long time, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it's partly because I have the biggest crush on Locke Lamora. Last I saw him, he was dying. But you're better now, right, Locke?
So there's good stuff ahead. Until then I guess there's nothing for it but to hunker down, get lost in the world of Westeros, and wait for spring.
(photos by Lin: Balthasar as kitten, brick wall in Oslo, wooden cottage in Innerdalen, the Swedish royal castle.)
1 comment:
With all those good stories, it sounds like a fun wait. Hope you and Magnus feel better soon!
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