[KatG]

Just say that Telling is an adventure fable about grief and vengeance and that Silences is an epic about the costs and lies of war between cultures. :) Or Illiad and Odyssey, as we did in the interview. That's really how I think of them. Telling is the Odyssey -- a journey across miles that is also a journey of self, and Silences is the Illiad, with many of the same issues explored. Of course, this is slightly on my mind because my daughter is studying the Iliad in school. She talked me into letting her see the movie Troy (we fast forwarded through the couple of sex scenes,) and she was so excited about what they did that was like her book version and what was different.

In any case, both your novels are very much epics, with a great deal of action and event to them, so I hope you don't downplay that too much.

[alison]

Hi Caitlin - I'm catching up on sffworld after an entirely chaotic year, when all my different lives seemed to go simultaneously bananas. And I see you've had a tumultuous 2007! Was it something in the air? (Not that I had any family problems, fingers crossed, but there's been a lot of mystical end-of-cycle stuff happening with me). I'm glad to hear that all is well with you.

I found your experience about the world building interesting. As a world-builder myself (I like being God) I've never done any "research". My approach has always been the Indiana Jones thing, I just made it up as I went along. The narrative, for me, determined the world, not the other way around... the rest (ie, those appendices) is a big private joke, a lot of fun actually. They certainly amuse my academic friends.

But it's the story that counts, always. With whatever "story" means (not the same as "plot", for instance...!)

PS My books are coming out in Germany next year too. Maybe we could become huge in German fantasy and have a drinking session in Dusseldorf or Berlin? Sounds good to me...

[Miriamele]

Glad to hear things are going well for you, Caitlin. I'll be reading that article some time when the kids aren't bouncing around behind me...:)

[Caitlin]

KatG: How I wish I could liken my books to The Iliad and The Odyssey! No no - I'm far too modest (and, appropriately enough, fearful of hubris) for that. Though I'm happy to allow others to make the comparison for me! ;)

Alison: Shall we raise an electronic, pre-Dusseldorfian beer to 2008, which will surely be more tranquil than its predecessor? Yes, I know: real beer is better...Funny note: I happened to be on Amazon Germany today and discovered that 1) my books' sales rankings are higher there than in the US, and they aren't even out yet, and 2) someone who bought Silences (called "The Shonyn Heretic") also bought The Gift. Die Gabe, I believe it's called. So there we are!

I appreciated your comments on your own approach to worldbuilding - especially the distinction you made between story and plot. And I imagine that appendices might indeed be a lot of fun. I think what I'm hesitant about, in writing as in other aspects of life, is a surfeit of earnestness...

And Miriamele: Lovely to hear from you again! I hope all's well with you and yours.

Happy holidays to all.

[alison]

We'll certainly raise a virtual stein, but you're right, it's not as much fun as the real thing. Here's to 2008! And a nice German bar!

But oh my god. I never thought of German Amazon. I just did a search and found out what my books look like in German. I'm really quite excited. So thanks for that!

I don't know if this happens to you, but I am always the last to know about anything. Am I particularly dumb? Or are my publishers just slack at passing things on? I mean, I haven 't seen the covers at all! And I think the books are out already. So thanks for that, at least I get to see what they look like. I want my author copies!

And prost!

[Caitlin]

"Particularly dumb," Alison? I think not! I do believe you've been ill served by publisher and/or agent - for just last Friday a box arrived for me from Penguin, and lo and behold, there were six German Sweet books within! So if Penguin Canada could figure it out... I hope you've already harassed your own professional contacts.

It really is a thrill, having the actual, hefty tomes to hand. And they [I]are[I] hefty: 608 pages, while the original was only 500-something. Germans obviously have more words. (You gotta love those compound nouns.)

[Radthorne]

Congrats on the new editions!

(If they ever made German versions of mine, they'd be as big as phonebooks!) :)