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truepennyBecause people keep asking plaintively, let me make the announcement again:
The Virtu is out of print in both hardback and paperback. My agent has made a formal protest on my behalf with Ace, and we are now waiting to see what Ace decides to do. I am just as frustrated by this state of affairs as you are.
Q: What is the difference between the obligation de sang and the obligation d'ame? i get that the first is the 'binding by blood' and the second is the 'binding by forms.'
Also, the part of me that likes to analyze words and their origins and meanings to death wants to know what 'forms' the latter specifically refers to.
A: You want this Q&A, in which I say, essentially, that you the readers know as much as I the writer do.
And I'm not sure I can explain what "binding-by-forms" refers to. It doesn't seem to be something I can articulate, even though I do know what I mean by it.
Q: Why could Felix teach Mildmay to read when Kolkhis couldn't? I realise that Felix is more patient but Mildmay isn't stupid, doesn't seem to have a reading disorder and was eager to please Kolkhis so why did she fail?
A: Because she didn't try very hard.
Q: I am increasingly baffled by the attitude in Corambis and Caloxa to homosexuality. Kay comments that is was no secret in Rothmarlin that he preferred boys and he recalls past encounters with Vyell without a qualm' He does not seem to think that lusting after men or indulging those lusts is particularly sinful, nor that he is violet. However he does feel that loving Gerard is sinful. Why is love sinful when lust and sexual intercourse are not? What is that makes a person violet? And why does Kay decide that he is violet? Is the Oliver/Ambrose combination particularly scandalous because they are a couple rather than because they have a sexual relationship?
A: In Caloxa and Corambis, sin is a matter of the mind, not of the body. The sin isn't in having sex with men, it's in falling in love with one. Thus the scandal around Oliver and Ambrose is that Oliver is treating Ambrose as his spouse.
Q: Do you know anything about the Lighthouse of Grimglass? Who's been looking after it? Are there servants or will Felix and Mildmay be looking after themselves (which would be Mildmay looking after both of them, I suppose)?
A: The lighthouse is part of the Warden's house, so presumably the household staff also serves the lighthouse keeper. More than that, I do not know.
Q: You said that you created Mildmay to rescue Felix in Hermione. Did Mildmay spring full formed into your brain as Felix did or did you construct him to fulfill Felix's needs?
A: He did not spring full-formed, but evolved to fill the needs of the book and of his own character.
Q: Now that it's been out for a bit, what do you think of Vienna Teng's new album?
A: Although it is not to my credit, I do not listen to Vienna Teng.
Q: Why was Felix the only "hocus" who could see the Mirador's curse on Mildmay? Was it due to his being crazy?
A: Yes.
Q: Was there any specific reason that Felix was so dead set against "doing" women? I know he was molly - but it seems he has a really strong aversion to any thought of females and I was wondering if something in his past led to that?
A: I don't know. He would never explain it.
Q: Why, while the boys were in Troia, was no mention made of the fact that Mildmay was also a child of Methony? Was it because Felix's father was someone from the Gardens? Or because of his power as a wizard and Mildmay's complete lack of magic?
A: The Troians preferred not to consider Mildmay as Methony's child. Their animus against him was specifically because he had been an assassin.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
The Virtu is out of print in both hardback and paperback. My agent has made a formal protest on my behalf with Ace, and we are now waiting to see what Ace decides to do. I am just as frustrated by this state of affairs as you are.
Q: What is the difference between the obligation de sang and the obligation d'ame? i get that the first is the 'binding by blood' and the second is the 'binding by forms.'
Also, the part of me that likes to analyze words and their origins and meanings to death wants to know what 'forms' the latter specifically refers to.
A: You want this Q&A, in which I say, essentially, that you the readers know as much as I the writer do.
And I'm not sure I can explain what "binding-by-forms" refers to. It doesn't seem to be something I can articulate, even though I do know what I mean by it.
Q: Why could Felix teach Mildmay to read when Kolkhis couldn't? I realise that Felix is more patient but Mildmay isn't stupid, doesn't seem to have a reading disorder and was eager to please Kolkhis so why did she fail?
A: Because she didn't try very hard.
Q: I am increasingly baffled by the attitude in Corambis and Caloxa to homosexuality. Kay comments that is was no secret in Rothmarlin that he preferred boys and he recalls past encounters with Vyell without a qualm' He does not seem to think that lusting after men or indulging those lusts is particularly sinful, nor that he is violet. However he does feel that loving Gerard is sinful. Why is love sinful when lust and sexual intercourse are not? What is that makes a person violet? And why does Kay decide that he is violet? Is the Oliver/Ambrose combination particularly scandalous because they are a couple rather than because they have a sexual relationship?
A: In Caloxa and Corambis, sin is a matter of the mind, not of the body. The sin isn't in having sex with men, it's in falling in love with one. Thus the scandal around Oliver and Ambrose is that Oliver is treating Ambrose as his spouse.
Q: Do you know anything about the Lighthouse of Grimglass? Who's been looking after it? Are there servants or will Felix and Mildmay be looking after themselves (which would be Mildmay looking after both of them, I suppose)?
A: The lighthouse is part of the Warden's house, so presumably the household staff also serves the lighthouse keeper. More than that, I do not know.
Q: You said that you created Mildmay to rescue Felix in Hermione. Did Mildmay spring full formed into your brain as Felix did or did you construct him to fulfill Felix's needs?
A: He did not spring full-formed, but evolved to fill the needs of the book and of his own character.
Q: Now that it's been out for a bit, what do you think of Vienna Teng's new album?
A: Although it is not to my credit, I do not listen to Vienna Teng.
Q: Why was Felix the only "hocus" who could see the Mirador's curse on Mildmay? Was it due to his being crazy?
A: Yes.
Q: Was there any specific reason that Felix was so dead set against "doing" women? I know he was molly - but it seems he has a really strong aversion to any thought of females and I was wondering if something in his past led to that?
A: I don't know. He would never explain it.
Q: Why, while the boys were in Troia, was no mention made of the fact that Mildmay was also a child of Methony? Was it because Felix's father was someone from the Gardens? Or because of his power as a wizard and Mildmay's complete lack of magic?
A: The Troians preferred not to consider Mildmay as Methony's child. Their animus against him was specifically because he had been an assassin.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-27 07:08 pm (UTC)Check Bookfinder regularly, is probably the best thing for folks to do: I have seen a couple of copies there with prices that fell short of stratospheric.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-27 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-27 09:34 pm (UTC)l'obligation d'ame
Date: 2009-05-27 11:09 pm (UTC)H.E.Wolf
[no LiveJournal acct.]
Re: l'obligation d'ame
Date: 2009-05-27 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 01:08 am (UTC)Unless, of course, they go out of print and ex-Library copies cost $90.00.
Come onnnnnnn Ace. My paperbacks are getting far too worn out and I'd really like everything hard bound. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 03:10 am (UTC)I think I used "dead set" a little too many times.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 07:50 pm (UTC)